W'illiam  Lloyd  Garrison 


THE  ABOLITIONIST 


BY 


ARCHIBALD  H.  GRIMKE,  M.A. 


Author  of  "Charles  Sumncr 


FUNK  &  WAGNALl^S  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  AND  I/DNDON 


COPYRIGHT  1891.  BY 

FUNK    &   WAGNAWvS 

[Printed  in  the  United  States  of  Americ*} 


To  Mrs.  Anna  M.  Day,  who  has  been  a  mother  to 
my  little  girt,  and  a  sister  to  me,  this  book  is  gratefully 

and  affectionately  dedicated,  by 

Thl  Author. 


238821 


PREFACE. 


THE  author  of  this  volume  desires  by  way  of 
preface  to  say  just  two  things: — firstly,  that  it  is  his 
earnest  hope  that  this  record  of  a  hero  may  be  an  aid 
to  brave  and  true  living  in  the  Republic,  so  that  the 
problems  knocking  at  its  door  for  solution  may  find 
the  heads,  the  hands,  and  the  hearts  equal  to  the  per 
formance  of  the  duties  imposed  by  them  upon  the 
men  and  women  of  this  generation.  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  was  brave  and  true.  Bravery  and  truth 
were  the  secret  of  his  marvelous  career  and  achieve 
ments.  May  his  countrymen  and  countrywomen 
imitate  his  example  and  be  brave  and  true,  not  alone 
in  emergent  moments,  but  in  everyday  things  as 
well. 

So  much  for  the  author's  firstly,  now  for  his  sec 
ondly,  which  is  to  acknowledge  his  large  indebted 
ness  in  the  preparation  of  this  book  to  that  store 
house  of  anti-slavery  material,  the  story  of  the  life  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  by  his  children.  Out  of  its 
garnered  riches  he  has  filled  his  sack. 

HYDE  PARK,  MASS.,  May  10,  1891. 


CONTENTS. 


Dedication in 

Preface v 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Father  of  the  Man 11 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Man  Hears  a  Voice:  Samuel,  Samuel ! 38 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Man  Begins  his  Ministry 69 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Hour  and  the  Man 92 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Day  of  Small  Things no 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Heavy  World  is  Moved 118 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Master  Strokes 133 

(vii)  ~ 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
i     Colorphobia 1 57 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Agitation  and  Repression 170 

CHAPTER  X. 
Between  the  Acts 192 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Mischief  Let  Loose 208 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Flotsam  and  Jetsam 233 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Barometer  Continues  to  Fall 242 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Brotherly  Love  Fails,  and  Ideas  Abound 263 

CHAPTER  XV. 
R andom  Shots 292 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Pioneer  Makes  a  New  and  Startling  Departure.. .   306 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
As  in  a  Looking  Glass 319 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  Turning  of  a  Long  Lane 335 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Face  to  Face 356 

CHAPTER  XX. 
The  Death-Grapple 370 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The   Last 385 

Index 397 


WILLIAM   LLOYD  GARRISON, 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    FATHER   OF   THE    MAN. 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON  was  born  in  Newbury- 
port,  Massachusetts,  December  10,  1805.  Forty  years 
before,  Daniel  Palmer,  his  great-grandfather,  emi 
grated  from  Massachusetts  and  settled  with  three 
sons  and  a  daughter  on  the  St.  John  River,  in  Nova 
Scotia.  The  daughter's  name  was  Mary,  and  it  was 
she  who  was  to  be  the  future  grandmother  of  our 
hero.  One  of  the  neighbors  of  Daniel  Palmer  was 
Joseph  Garrison,  who  was  probably  an  Englishman. 
He  was  certainly  a  bachelor.  The  Acadian  solitude 
of  five  hundred  acres  and  Mary  Palmer's  charms 
proved  too  much  for  the  susceptible  heart  of 
Joseph  Garrison.  He  wooed  and  won  her,  and  on 
his  thirtieth  birthday  she  became  his  wife.  The 
bride  herself  was  but  twenty-three,  a  woman  of 
resources  and  of  presence  of  mind,  as  she  needed  to 
be  in  that  primitive  settlement.  Children  and  cares 
came  apace  to  the  young  wife,  and  we  may  be  sure 
confined  her  more  and  more  closely  to  her  house. 
But  in  the  midst  of  a  fast-increasing  family  and  of 


la  ."  WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

multiplying  cares  a  day's  outing  did  occasionally 
come  to  the  busy  housewife,  when  she  would  go 
down  the  river  to  spend  it  at  her  father's  farm. 
Once,  ten  years  after  her  marriage,  she  had  a  narrow 
escape  on  one  of  those  rare  days.  She  had  started 
in  a  boat  with  her  youngest  child,  Abijah,  and  a  lad 
who  worked  in  her  household.  It  was  spring  and 
the  St.  John  was  not  yet  clear  of  ice.  Higher  up  the 
river  the  ice  broke  that  morning  and  came  floating 
down  with  the  current.  The  boat  in  which  Mary 
Garrison  and  her  baby  rode  was  overtaken  by  tht 
fragments  and  wrecked.  The  mother  with  her  child 
sought  refuge  on  a  piece  of  ice  and  was  driven  shore 
ward.  Wrapping  Abijah  in  all  the  clothes  she  could 
spare  she  threw  him  ashore.  She  and  the  lad  fol 
lowed  by  the  aid  of  an  overhanging  willow  bough 
The  baby  was  unharmed,  for  she  had  thrown  him 
into  a  snow-bank.  But  the  perils  of  the  river  gave 
place  to  the  perils  of  the  woods.  In  them  Mary 
Garrison  wandered  with  her  infant,  who  was  no  less 
a  personage  than  the  father  of  William  Lloyd  Garri 
son,  until  at  length  she  found  the  hut  of  a  friendly 
Indian,  who  took  her  in  and  "  entertained  her  with 
his  best  words  and  deeds,  and  the  next  morning 
conducted  her  safely  to  her  father's." 

The  Palmers  were  a  hardy,  liberty-loving  race  of 
farmers,  and  Joseph  Garrison  was  a  man  of  unusual 
force  and  independence  of  character.  The  life  which 
these  early  settlers  lived  was  a  life  lived  partly 
on  the  land  and  partly  on  the  river.  They  were 
equally  at  home  with  scythe  or  oar.  Amid  such 
terraqueous  conditions  it  was  natural  enough  that 
the  children  should  develop  a  passion  for  the 


THE   FATHER   OF   THE   MAN.  13 

sea.  Like  ducks  many  of  them  took  to  the  water 
and  became  sailors.  Abijah  was  a  sailor.  The 
amphibious  habits  of  boyhood  gave  to  his  man 
hood  a  restless,  roving  character.  Like  the  ele 
ment  which  he  loved  he  was  in  constant  motion. 
He  was  a  man  of  gifts  both  of  mind  and  body. 
There  was  besides  a  strain  of  romance  and  adventure 
in  his  blood.  By  nature  and  his  seafaring  life  he 
probably  craved  strong  excitement.  This  craving 
was  in  part  appeased  no  doubt  by  travel  and  drink. 
He  took  to  the  sea  and  he  took  to  the  cup.  But  he 
was  more  than  a  creature  of  appetites,  he  was  a  man 
of  sentiment.  Being  a  man  of  sentiment  what  should 
he  do  but  fall  in  love.  The  woman  who  inspired  his 
love  was  no  ordinary  woman,  but  a  genuine  Acadian 
beauty.  She  was  a  splendid  specimen  of  woman 
kind.  Tall  she  was,  graceful  and  admirably  propor 
tioned.  Never  before  had  Abijah  in  all  his  wander 
ings  seen  a  creature  of  such  charms  of  person.  Her 
face  matched  the  attractions  of  her  form  and  her  mind 
matched  the  beauty  of  her  face.  She  possessed  a 
nature  almost  Puritanic  in  its  abhorrence  of  sin,  and 
in  the  strength  of  its  moral  convictions.  She  feared 
to  do  wrong  more  than  she  feared  any  man.  With 
this  supremacy  of  the  moral  sense  there  went  along 
singular  firmness  of  purpose  and  independence  of 
character.  When  a  mere  slip  of  a  girl  she  was  called 
upon  to  choose  between  regard  for  her  religious  con 
victions  and  regard  for  her  family.  It  happened  in 
this  wise.  Fanny  Lloyd's  parents  were  Episcopa 
lians,  who  were  inclined  to  view  with  contempt  fel 
low-Christians  of  the  Baptist  persuasion.  To  have 
a  child  of  theirs  identify  herself  with  this  despised 


14  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

sect  was  one  of  those  crosses  which  they  could  not 
and  would  not  bear.  But  Fanny  had  in  a  fit  of  girlish 
frolic  entered  one  of  the  meetings  of  these  low-caste 
Christians.  What  she  heard  changed  the  current  of 
her  life.  She  knew  thenceforth  that  God  was  no 
respecter  of  persons,  and  that  the  crucified  Nazarene 
looked  not  upon  the  splendor  of  ceremonies  but  upon 
the  thoughts  of  the  heart  of  His  disciples.  Here  in  a 
barn,  amid  vulgar  folk,  and  uncouth,  dim  surround 
ings,  He  had  appeared,  He,  her  Lord  and  Master. 
He  had  touched  her  with  that  white  unspeakable 
appeal.  The  laughter  died  upon  the  fair  girlish  face 
and  prayer  issued  from  the  beautiful  lips.  If  vulgar 
folk,  the  despised  Baptists,  were  good  enough  for  the 
Christ,  were  they  not  good  enough  for  her?  Among 
them  she  had  felt  His  consecrating  touch  and  among 
them  she  determined  to  devote  herself  to  Him.  Her 
parents  commanded  and  threatened  but  Fanny  Lloyd 
was  bent  on  obeying  the  heavenly  voice  of  duty  rather 
than  father  and  mother.  They  had  threatened  that 
L  if  she  allowed  herself  to  be  baptised  they  would  turn 
her  out  of  doors.  Fanny  was  baptised  and  her  parents 
1  made  good  the  threat.  Their  home  was  no  longer 
her  home.  She  had  the  courage  of  her  conviction- 
ability  to  suffer  for  a  belief. 

Such  was  the  woman  who  subsequently  became  the 

yOwife  of  Abijah  Garrison,   and  the  mother  of  one  of 

Uthe   greatest    moral   heroes  of  the  century.     Abijah 

followed  the  sea,  and  she  for  several  years  with  an 

increasing  family  followed   Abijah.     First  from  one 

place  and   then  another  she  glided  after  him  in  her 

early  married  life.     He  loved  her  and  his  little  ones 

but  the  love  of  travel  and  change  was  strong  within 


THE    FATHER   Of   THE    MAN.  1$ 

him.  He  was  ever  restless  and  changeful.  During 
one  of  his  roving  fits  he  emigrated  with  his  family 
from  Nova  Scotia  to  the  United  States,  It  was  in 
the  spring  of  1805  that  he  and  they  landed  in  New- 
buryport.  The  following  December  his  wife  pre 
sented  him  with  a  boy,  whom  they  called  William 
Lloyd  Garrison.  Three  years  afterward  Abijah 
deserted  his  wife  and  children.  Of  the  causes  which 
led  to  this  act  nothing  is  now  known.  Soon  after 
his  arrival  in  Newburyport  he  had  found  employ 
ment.  He  made  several  voyages  as  sailing-master  in 
1805-8  from  that  port.  He  was  apparently  during 
these  years  successful  after  the  manner  of  his  craft. 
But  he  was  not  a  man  to  remain  long  in  one  place. 
What  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  "his  strange 
behavior  we  can  only  conjecture.  Possibly  an 
increasing  love  for  liquor  had  led  to  domestic  differ 
ences,  which  his  pleasure-loving  nature  would  not 
brook.  Certain  it  was  that  he  was  not  like  his  wife. 
He  was  not  a  man  in  whom  the  moral  sense  was 
uppermost  He  was  governed  by  impulse  and  she 
by  fixed  moral  and  religious  principles.  He  drank 
and  she  abhorred  the  habit.  She  tried  first  moral 
suasion  to  induce  him  to  abandon  the  habit,  and 
once,  in  a  moment  of  wifely  and  motherly  indigna 
tion,  she  broke  up  one  of  his  drinking  parties  in  her 
house  by  trying  the  efficacy  of  a  little  physical 
suasion.  She  turned  the  company  out  of  doors  and 
smashed  the  bottles  of  liquor.  This  was  not  the 
kind  of  woman  whom  Abijah  cared  to  live  with  as  a 
wife.  He  was  not  the  sort  of  man  whom  the  most 
romantic  love  could  attach  to  the  apron-strings  of 
any  woman.  And  in  the  matter  of  his  cup  he  prob- 


l6  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

ably  saw  that  this  was  what  he  would  be  obliged  to 
do  as  the  condition  of  domestic  peace.  The  condi 
tion  he  rejected  and,  rejecting  it,  rejected  and  cast-off 
his  wife  and  family  and  the  legal  and  moral  responsi 
bilities  of  husband  and  father. 

Bitter  days  now  followed  and  Fanny  Garrison 
became  acquainted  with  grief  and  want.  She  had 
the  mouths  of  three  children  to  fill — the  youngest  an 
infant  at  her  breast.  The  battle  of  this  broken 
hearted  woman  for  their  daily  bread  was  as  heroic  as 
it  was  pathetic.  She  still  lived  in  the  little  house  on 
School  street  where  Lloyd  was  born.  The  owner, 
Martha  Farnham,  proved  herself  a  friend  indeed  to 
the  poor  harassed  soul.  Now  she  kept  the  wolf  from 
the  door  by  going  out  as  a  monthly  nurse — "  Aunt 
Farnham "  looking  after  the  little  ones  in  her 
absence.  She  was  put  to  all  her  possibles  during 
those  anxious  years  of  struggle  and  want.  Even 
Lloyd,  wee  bit  of  a  boy,  was  pressed  into  the  service. 
She  would  make  molasses  candies  and  send  him  upon 
the  streets  to  sell  them.  But  with  all  her  industry 
and  resource  what  could  she  do  with  three  children 
weighing  her  down  in  the  fierce  struggle  for  exis 
tence,  rendered  tenfold  fiercer  after  the  industrial 
crisis  preceding  and  following  the  War  of  1812. 
Then  it  was  that  she  was  forced  to  supplement  her 
scant  earnings  with  refuse  food  from  the  table  of  "  a 
certain  mansion  on  State  street."  It  was  Lloyd  who 
went  for  this  food,  and  it  was  he  who  had  to  run  the 
gauntlet  of  mischievous  and  inquisitive  children 
whom  he  met  and  who  longed  for  a  peep  into  his  tin 
pail.  But  the  future  apostle  of  non-resistance  was 
intensely  resistant,  we  may  be  sure,  on  such  occa- 


THE    FATHER    OF    THE    MAN.  1 7 

sions.  For,  as  his  children  have  said  in  the  story  of 
his  life  :  "  Lloyd  was  a  thorough  boy,  fond  of  games 
and  of  all  boyish  sport.  Barefooted,  he  trundled  his 
hoop  all  over  Newburyport  ;  he  swam  in  the  Merri- 
mac  in  summer,  and  skated  on  it  in  winter  ;  he  was 
good  at  sculling  a  boat  ;  he  played  at  bat  and  ball 
and  snowball,  and  sometimes  led  the  '  Southend 
boys '  against  the  Northenders  in  the  numerous  con 
flicts  between  the  youngsters  of  the  two  sections  ;  he 
was  expert  with  marbles.  Once,  with  a  playmate,  he 
swam  across  the  river  to  *  Great  Rock,'  a  distance  of 
three-fourths  of  a  mile  and  effected  his  return  against 
the  tide  ;  and  once,  in  winter,  he  nearly  lost  his  life 
by  breaking  through  the  ice  on  the  river  and  reached 
the  shore  only  after  a  desperate  struggle,  the  ice 
yielding  as  often  as  he  attempted  to  climb  upon  its 
surface.  It  was  favorite  pastime  of  the  boys  of  that 
day  to  swim  from  one  wharf  to  another  adjacent, 
where  vessels  from  the  West  Indies  discharged 
their  freight  of  molasses,  and  there  to  indulge  in 
stolen  sweetness,  extracted  by  a  smooth  stick  inserted 
through  the  bung-hole.  When  detected  and  chased, 
they  would  plunge  into  the  water  and  escape  to  the 
wharf  on  which  they  had  left  their  clothes."  Such 
was  the  little  man  with  a  boy's  irrepressible  passion 
for  frolic  and  fun.  His  passion  for  music  was  hardly 
less  pronounced,  and  this  he  inherited  from  his 
mother,  and  exercised  to  his  heart's  content  in  the 
choir  of  the  Baptist  Church.  These  were  the  bright 
lines  and  spots  in  his  strenuous  young  life.  He 
played  and  sang  the  gathering  brood  of  cares  out  of 
his  own  and  his  mother's  heart.  He  needed  to  play 
and  he  needed  to  sing  to  charm  away  from  his  spirit 


l8  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  vulture  of  poverty.  That  evil  bird  hovered  ever 
over  his  childhood.  It  was  able  to  do  many  hard  things 
to  him,  break  up  his  home,  sunder  him  from  his 
mother,  force  him  at  a  tender  age  to  earn  his  bread, 
still  there  was  another  bird  in  the  boy's  heart,  which 
sang  out  of  it  the  shadow  and  into  it  the  sunshine. 
Whatever  was  his  lot  there  sang  the  bird  within  his 
breast,  and  there  shone  the  sun  over  his  head  and 
into  his  soul.  The  boy  had  unconsciously  drawn 
around  him  a  circle  of  sunbeams,  and  how  could  the 
vulture  of  poverty  strike  him  with  its  wings  or  stab 
him  with  its  beak.  When  he  was  about  eight  he  was 
parted  from  his  mother,  she  going  to  Lynn,  and  he, 
wee  mite  of  a  man,  remaining  in  Newburyport.  It  was 
during  the  War  of  1812,  and  pinching  times,  when 
Fanny  Garrison  was  at  her  wit's  end  to  keep  the  wolf 
from  devouring  her  three  little  ones  and  herself  into 
the  bargain.  With  what  tearing  of  the  heart-strings 
she  left  Lloyd  and  his  little  sister  Elizabeth 
behind  we  can  now  only  imagine.  She  had 
no  choice,  poor  soul,  for  unless  she  toiled  they 
would  starve.  So  with  James,  her  eldest  son,  she 
went  forth  into  the  world  to  better  theirs  and  her 
own  condition.  Lloyd  went  to  live  in  Deacon  Ezekiel 
Bartlett's  family.  They  were  good  to  the  little  fellow, 
but  they,  too,  were  poor.  The  Deacon,  among  other 
things,  sawed  wood  for  a  living,  and  Lloyd  hardly 
turned  eight  years,  followed  him  in  his  peregrinations 
from  house  to  house  doing  with  his  tiny  hands  what 
he  could  to  help  the  kind  old  man.  Soon  Fanny 
Lloyd's  health,  which  had  supported  her  as  a  magic 
staff  in  all  those  bitter  years  since  Abijah's  desertion 
of  wife  and  children,  began  in  the  battle  for  bread  in 


THE    FATHER    OF    THE    MAN.  19 

Lynn,  to  fail  her.  And  so,  in  her  weakness,  and  with 
a  great  fear  in  her  heart  for  her  babies,  when  she  was 
gone  from  them  into  the  dark  unknown  forever,  she 
bethought  her  of  making  them  as  fast  as  possible  self- 
supporting.  And  what  better  way  was  there  than  to 
have  the  boys  learn  some  trade.  James  she  had 
already  apprenticed  to  learn  the  mystery  of  shoe- 
making.  And  for  Lloyd  she  now  sent  and  appren 
ticed  him,  too,  to  the  same  trade.  Oh!  but  it  was 
hard  for  the  little  man,  the  heavy  lapstone  and  all 
this  thumping  and  pounding  to  make  a  shoe.  Oh  ! 
how  the  stiff  waxen  threads  cut  into  his  soft  fingers, 
how  all  his  body  ached  with  the  constrained 
position  and  the  rough  work  of  shoemaking.  But 
one  day_the  little  nine-year-old,  who  was  "  not  much 
bigger  than  a  last,"  was  able  to  produce  a  real  shoe. 
Then  it  was  probably  that  a  dawning  consciousness 
of  power  awoke  within  the  child's  mind.  He  him 
self  by  patience  and  industry  had  created  a  some 
thing  where  before  was  nothing.  The  eye  of  the  boy 
got  for  the  first  time  a  glimpse  of  the  man,  who  was 
still  afar  off,  shadowy  in  the  dim  approaches  of  the 
hereafter.  But  the  work  proved  altogether  beyond 
the  strength  of  the  boy.  The  shoemaker's  bench  was 
not  his  place,  and  the  making  of  shoes  for  his  kind 
was  not  the  mission  for  which  he  was  sent  into  the 
world.  And  now  again  poverty,  the  great  scene-shif 
ter,  steps  upon  the  stage,  and  Fanny  Lloyd  and  her 
two  boys  are  in  Baltimore  on  that  never-ending  quest 
for  bread.  She  had  gone  to  work  in  a  shoe  factory 
established  by  an  enterprising  Yankee  in  that  ciry. 
The  work  lasted  but  a  few  months,  when  the  pro 
prietor  failed  and  the  factory  was  closed.  In  a 


2O  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

strange  city  mother  and  children  were  left  without 
employment.  In  her  anxiety  and  distress  a  new 
trouble,  the  greatest  and  most  poignant  since  Abijah's 
desertion,  wrung  her  with  a  supreme  grief.  James, 
the  light  and  pride  of  her  life,  had  run  away  from 
his  master  and  gone  to  sea.  Lloyd,  poor  little  home 
sick  Lloyd,  was  the  only  consolation  left  the  broken 
heart.  And  he  did  not  want  to  live  in  Baltimore, 
and  longed  to  return  to  Newburyport.  So,  mindful 
of  her  child's  happiness,  and  all  unmindful  of  her 
own,  she  sent  him  from  her  to  Newburyport,  which 
he  loved  inexpressibly.  He  was  now  in  his  eleventh 
year.  Very  happy  he  was  to  see  once  more  the 
streets  and  landmarks  of  the  old  town — the  river, 
and  the  old  house  where  he  was  born,  and  the  church 
next  door  and  the  school-house  across  the  way  and 
the  dear  friends  whom  he  loved  and  who  loved  him. 
He  went  again  to  live  with  the  Bartletts,  doing  with 
his  might  all  that  he  could  to  earn  his  daily  bread, 
and  to  repay  the  kindness  of  the  dear  old  deacon  and 
his  family.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  received  his 
last  scrap  of  schooling.  He  was,  as  we  have  seen,  but 
eleven,  but  precious  little  of  that  brief  and  tender 
time  had  he  been  able  to  spend  in  a  school-house. 
He  had  gone  to  the  primary  school,  where,  as  his 
children  tell  us,  he  did  not  show  himself  "  an  apt 
scholar,  being  slow  in  mastering  the  alphabet,  and 
surpassed  even  by  his  little  sister  Elizabeth."  During 
his  stay  with  Deacon  Bartlett  the  first  time,  he  was 
sent  three  months  to  the  grammar-school,  and  now 
on  his  return  to  this  good  friend,  a  few  more  weeks 
were  added  to  his  scant  school  term.  They  proved 
the  last  of  his  school-days,  and  the  boy  went  forth 


THE    FATHER   OF   THE    MAN.  21 

from  the  little  brick  building  on  the  Mall  to  finish 
his  education  in  the  great  workaday  world,  under  those 
stern  old  masters,  poverty  and  experience.  By  and  by 
Lloyd  was  a  second  time  apprenticed  to  learn  a  trade. 
It  was  to  a  cabinetmaker  in  Haverhill,  Mass.  He  made 
good  progress  in  the  craft,  but  his  young  heart  still 
turned  to  Newburyport  and  yearned  for  the  friends 
left  there.  He  bore  up  against  the  homesickness  as 
best  he  could,  and  when  he  could  bear  it  no  longer, 
resolved  to  run  away  from  the  making  of  toy  bureaus, 
to  be  once  more  with  the  Bartletts.  He  had  partly 
executed  this  resolution,  being  several  miles  on  the 
road  to  his  old  home,  when  his  master,  the  cabinet 
maker,  caught  up  to  him  and  returned  him  to  Haver- 
hill.  But  when  he  heard  the  little  fellow's  story  of 
homesickness  and  yearning  for  loved  places  and 
faces,  he  was  not  angry  with  him,  but  did  presently 
release  him  from  his  apprenticeship.  And  so  the  boy 
to  his  great  joy  found  himself  again  in  Newburyport 
and  with  the  good  old  wood-sawyer.  Poverty  and 
experience  were  teaching  the  child  what  he  never 
could  have  learned  in  a  grammar-school,  a  certain 
acquaintance  with  himself  and  the  world  around 
him.  There  was  growing  within  his  breast  a  self- 
care  and  a  self-reliance.  It  was  the  autumn  of  1818, 
when,  so  to  speak,  the  boy's  primary  education  in 
the  school  of  experience  terminated,  and  he  entered  on 
the  second  stage  of  his  training  under  the  same  rough 
tutelage.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  entered  the  office 
of  the  Newburyport  Herald  to  learn  to  set  types. 
At  last  his  boy's  hands  had  found  work  which  his 
boy's  heart  did  joy  to  have  done.  He  soon  mastered 
the  compositor's  art,  became  a  remarkably  rapid 


22  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

composer.  As  he  set  up  the  thoughts  of  others,  he 
was  not  slow  in  discovering  thoughts  of  his  own 
demanding  utterance.  The  printer's  apprentice  felt 
the  stirrings  of  a  new  life.  A  passion  for  self-improve 
ment  took  possession  of  him.  He  began  to  read  the 
English  classics,  study  American  history,  follow  the 
currents  of  party  politics.  No  longer  could  it  be 
said  of  him  that  he  was  not  an  apt  pupil.  He  was 
indeed  singularly  apt.  His  intelligence  quickened 
marvelously.  The  maturing  process  was  sudden 
and  swift.  Almost  before  one  knows  it  the  boy  in 
years  has  become  a  man  in  judgment  and  character. 
This  precipitate  development  of  the  intellectual  life 
in  him,  produced  naturally  enough  an  appreciable 
enlargement  of  the  ego.  The  young  eagle  had 
abruptly  awakened  to  the  knowledge  that  he  possessed 
wings  ;  and  wings  were  for  use — to  soar  with. 
Ambition,  the  desire  to  mount  aloft,  touched  and 
fired  the  boy's  mind.  As  he  read,  studied,  and 
observed,  while  his  hands  were  busy  with  his  work, 
there  was  a  constant  fluttering  going  on  in  the  eyrie 
of  his  thoughts.  By  an  instinct  analogous  to  that 
which  sends  a  duck  to  the  water,  the  boy  took  to  the 
discussion  of  public  questions.  It  was  as  if  an  innate 
force  was  directing  him  toward  his  mission — the  re 
formation  of  great  public  wrongs.  At  sixteen  he  made 
his  first  contribution  to  the  press.  It  was  a  discus 
sion  of  a  quasi-social  subject,  the  relation  of  the 
sexes  in  society.  He  Was  at  the  impressionable  age, 
when  the  rosy  god  of  love  is  at  his  tricks.  He  was 
also  at  a  stage  of  development,  when  boys  are  least 
attractive,  when  th£y  are  disagreeably  virile,  full  of 
their  own  importance  and  the  superiority  of  their  sex. 


THE    FATHER    OF   THE    MAN.  23 

In  the  "  Breach  of  the  Marriage  Promise,"  by  "  An 
Old  Bachelor,"  these  signs  of  adolescence  are  by  no 
means  wanting,  they  are,  on  the  contrary,  distinctly 
present  and  palpable.  But  there  were  other  signs 
besides  these,  signs  that  the  youth  had  had  his  eyes 
wide  open  to  certain  difficulties  which  beset  the 
matrimonial  state  and  to  the  conventional  steps 
which  lead  to  it,  and  that  he  had  thought  quite 
soberly,  if  not  altogether  wisely  upon  them.  The 
writer  was  verdant,  to  be  sure,  and  self-conscious, 
and  partial  in  his  view  of  the  relations  of  the  sexes, 
but  there  was  withal  a  serious  purpose  in  the  writing. 
He  meant  to  expose  and  correct  what  he  conceived 
to  be  reprehensible  conduct  on  the  part  of  the 
gentler  sex,  bad  feminine  manners.  Just  now  he 
sees  the  man's  side  of  the  shield,  a  few  years  later  he 
will  see  the  woman's  side  also.  He  ungallantly  con 
cludes  "  to  lead  the  '  single  life]  and  not,"  as  he 
puts  it,  "  trouble  myself  about  the  ladies."  A  most 
sapient  conclusion,  considering  that  this  veteran 
misogynist  was  but  sixteen  years  old.  During  the 
year  following  the  publication  of  this  article,  he  plied 
his  pen  with  no  little  industry — producing  in  all 
fifteen  articles  on  a  variety  of  topics,  such  as  "  South 
American  Affairs,"  "State  Politics,"  "A  Glance  at 
Europe,"  etc.,  all  of  which  are  interesting  now  chiefly 
as  showing  the  range  of  his  growing  intelligence,  and 
as  the  earliest  steps  by  which  he  acquired  his  later  mas 
tery  of  the  pen  and  powerful  style  of  composition. 
In  a  letter  addressed  to  his  mother  about  this  time, 
the  boy  is  full  of  Lloyd,  undisguisedly  proud  of 
Lloyd,  believes  in  Lloyd.  "When  I  peruse  them 
over "  (/.  e.  those  fifteen  communications  to  the 


24  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

press),  "  I  feel  absolutely  astonished,"  he  naively  con 
fesses,  "at  the  different  subjects  which  I  have  dis 
cussed,  and  the  style  in  which  they  are  written. 
Indeed  it  is  altogether  a  matter  of  surprise  that  I 
have  met  with  such  signal  success,  seeing  I  do  not 
understand  one  single  rule  of  grammar,  and  having  a 
very  inferior  education."  The  printer's  lad  was 
plainly  not  lacking  in  the  bump  of  approbativeness, 
or  the  quality  of  self-assertiveness.  The  quick 
mother  instinct  of  Fanny  Garrison  took  alarm  at  the 
tone  of  her  boy's  letter.  Possibly  there  was  some 
thing  in  Lloyd's  florid  sentences,  in  his  facility  of 
expression,  which  reminded  her  of  Abijah.  He,  too, 
poor  fellow,  had  had  gifts  in  the  use  of  the  pen,  and 
what  had  he  done,  what  had  he  come  to  ?  Had  he 
not  forsaken  wife  and  children  by  first  forsaking  the 
path  of  holiness?  So  she  pricks  the  boy's  bubble, 
and  points  him  to  the  one  thing  needful — God  in  the 
soul.  But  in  her  closing  words  she  betrays  what  we 
all  along  suspected,  her  own  secret  pleasure  in  her 
son's  success,  when  she  asks,  "  Will  you  be  so  kind 
as  to  bring  on  your  pieces  that  you  have  written 
for  me  to  see?"  Ah!  was  she  not  every  inch  a 
mother,  and  how  Lloyd  did  love  her.  But  she  was 
no  longer  what  she  had  been.  And  no  wonder,  for 
few  women  have  been  called  to  endure  such  heavy 
burdens,  fight  so  hopelessly  the  battle  for  bread,  all 
the  while  her  heart  was  breaking  with  grief.  Disease 
had  made  terrible  inroads  upon  her  once  strong  and 
beautiful  person.  Not  the  shadow  of  the  strength 
and  beauty  of  her  young  womanhood  remained.  She 
was  far  away  from  her  early  home  and  friends,  far 
away  from  her  darling  boy,  in  Baltimore.  James, 


THE    FATHER   OF    THE    MAN.  25 

her  pride,  was  at  sea,  Elizabeth,  a  sweet  little  maiden 
of  twelve,  had  left  her  to  take  that  last  voyage 
beyond  another  sea,  and  Abijah,  without  one  word 
of  farewell,  with  the  silence  of  long  years  unbroken, 
he,  too,  also  !  had  hoisted  sail  and  was  gone  forever. 
And  now  in  her  loneliness  and  sorrow,  knowing  that 
she,  too,  must  shortly  follow,  a  great  yearning  rose 
up  in  her  poor  wounded  heart  to  see  once  more  her 
child,  the  comfort  and  stay  of  her  bitter  life.  And 
as  she  had  written  to  him  her  wish  and  longing, 
the  boy  went  to  her,  saw  the  striking  change,  saw 
that  the  broken  spirit  of  the  saintly  woman  was  day 
by  day  nearing  the  margin  of  the  dark  hereafter, 
into  whose  healing  waters  it  would  bathe  and  be 
whole  again.  The  unspeakable  experience  of  mother 
and  son,  during  this  last  meeting  is  not  for  you  and 
me,  reader,  to  look  into.  Soon  after  Lloyd's  return 
to  Newburyport  a  cancerous  tumor  developed  on  her 
shoulder,  from  the  effects  of  which  she  died  Septem 
ber  3,  1823,  at  the  age  of  forty-five.  More  than  a 
decade  after  her  death  her  son  wrote  :  "  She  has  been 
dead  almost  eleven  years  ;  but  my  grief  at  her  loss  is 
as  fresh  and  poignant  now  as  it  was  at  that  period  ;  " 
and  he  breaks  out  in  praise  of  her  personal  charms  in 
the  following  original  lines  : 

"  She  was  the  masterpiece  of  womankind — 
In  shape  and  height  majestically  fine  ; 
Her  cheeks  the  lily  and  the  rose  combined ; 
Her  lips — more  opulently  red  than  wine ; 
Her  raven  locks  hung  tastefully  entwined  ; 
Her  aspect  fair  as  Nature  could  design  ; 
And  then  her  eyes  !  so  eloquently  bright ! 
An  eagle  would  recoil  before  her  light." 


26  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

The  influence  of  this  superb  woman  was  a  lasting 
power  for  truth  and  righteousness  in  the  son's  stormy 
life.  For  a  whole  year  after  her  death,  the  grief  of 
the  printer's  lad  over  his  loss,  seemed  to  have  checked 
the  activity  of  his  pen.  For  during  that  period  noth 
ing  of  his  appeared  in  the  Herald.  But  after  the  sharp 
edge  of  his  sorrow  had  worn  off,  his  pen  became 
active  again  in  the  discussion  of  public  men  and  pub 
lic  questions.  It  was  a  period  of  bitter  personal  and 
political  feuds  and  animosities.  The  ancient  Federal 
party  was  in  articulo  mortis.  The  death-bed  of  a 
great  political  organization  proves  oftentimes  the 
graveyard  of  lifelong  friendships.  For  it  is  a  scene 
of  crimination  and  recrimination.  And  so  it  hap 
pened  that  the  partisans  of  John  Adams,  and  the 
partisans  of  John  Adams's  old  Secretary  of  State, 
Timothy  Pickering,  were  in  1824  doing  a  thriving 
business  in  this  particular  line.  Into  this  funereal 
performance  our  printer's  apprentice  entered  with 
pick  and  spade.  He  had  thus  early  a  penchant  for 
controversy,  a  soldier's  scent  for  battle.  If  there  was 
any  fighting  going  on  he  proceeded  directly  to  have 
a  hand  in  it.  And  it  cannot  be  denied  that  that  hand 
was  beginning  to  deal  some  manly  and  sturdy  blows, 
whose  resound  was  heard  quite  distinctly  beyond 
the  limits  of  his  birthplace.  His  communications 
appeared  now,  not  only  in  the  Herald,  but  in  the 
Salem  Gazette  as  well.  Now  it  was  the  Adams-Pick 
ering  controversy,  now  the  discussion  of  General 
Jackson  as  a  presidential  candidate,  now  the  state  of 
the  country  in  respect  of  parties,  now  the  merits  of 
"American  Writers,"  which  afforded  his  'prentice 
hand  the  requisite  practice  in  the  use  of  the  pen.  He 


THE    FATHER    OF    THE    MAN.  27 

had  already  acquired  a  perfect  knowledge  of  type 
setting  and  the  mechanical  makeup  of  a  newspaper. 
During  his  apprenticeship  he  took  his  first  lesson  in 
the  art  of  thinking  on  his  feet  in  the  presence  of  an 
audience.  The  audience  to  be  sure  were  the  mem 
bers  of  a  debating  club,  which  he  had  organized.  He 
was  very  ambitious  and  was  doubtless  looking  for 
ward  to  a  political  career.  He  saw  the  value  of  ex 
tempore  speech  to  the  man  with  a  future,  and  he 
wisely  determined  to  possess  himself  of  its  advantage. 
He  little  dreamt,  however,  to  what  great  use  he  was 
to  devote  it  in  later  years.  There  were  other  points, 
worth  noting  at  this  time,  and  which  seemed  to 
prophecy  for  him  a  future  of  distinction.  He 
possessed  a  most  attractive  personality.  His  energy 
and  geniality,  his  keen  sense  of  humor,  his  social  and 
bouyant  disposition,  even  his  positive  and  opinion 
ated  temper,  were  sources  of  popular  strength  to  him. 
People  were  strongly  drawn  to  him.  His  friends 
were  devoted  to  him.  He  had  that  quality,  which 
we  vaguely  term  magnetic,  the  quality  of  attach 
ing  others  to  us,  and  maintaining  over  them  the  as 
cendency  of  our  character  and  ideas. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  progress  along  so  many 
lines,  the  days  of  his  apprenticeship  in  the  Herald 
office  came  to  an  end.  He  was  just  twenty.  With  true 
Yankee  enterprise  and  pluck,  he  proceeded  to  do  for 
himself  what  for  seven  years  he  had  helped  to  do  for 
another — publish  a  newspaper.  And  with  a  brave 
heart  the  boy  makes  his  launch  on  the  uncertain  sea 
of  local  journalism  and  becomes  editor  and  publisher 
of  a  real,  wide-awake  sheet,  which  he  calls  the  Free 
Press.  The  paper  was  independent  in  politics  and 


28  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

proved  worthy  of  its  name  during  the  six  months 
that  Garrison  sat  in  the  managerial  chair.  Here  is 
the  tone  which  the  initial  number  of  the  paper  holds 
to  the  public:  "  As  to  the  political  course  of  the 
Free  Press,  it  shall  be,  in  the  widest  sense  of  the  term, 
independent.  The  publisher  does  not  mean  by  this,  to 
rank  amongst  those  who  are  of  everybody's  and  of 
nobody's  opinion;  .  .  .  nor  one  of  whom  the 
old  French  proverb  says:  //  ne  soit  sur  quel  pied  dan- 
ser.  [He  knows  not  on  which  leg  to  dance.]  Its 
principles  shall  be  open,  magnanimous  and  free.  It 
shall  be  subservient  to  no  party  or  body  of  men;  and 
neither  the  craven  fear  of  loss,  nor  the  threats  of  the 
disappointed,  nor  the  influence  of  power,  shall  ever 
awe  one  single  opinion  into  silence.  Honest  and  fair 
discussion  it  will  court;  and  its  columns  will  be  open 
to  all  temperate  and  intelligent  communications 
emanating  from  whatever  political  i;  '.irce.  In  fine 
we  will  say  with  Cicero:  *  Reason  shall  prevail  with 
him  more  than  popular  opinion.'  They  who  like 
this  avowal  may  extend  their  encouragement;  and  if 
any  feel  dissatisfied  with  it,  they  must  act  accord 
ingly.  The  publisher  cannot  condescend  to  solicit 
their  support."  This  was  admirable  enough  in  its 
way,  but  it  was  poor  journalism  some  will  say.  And 
without  doubt  when  judged  by  the  common  com 
mercial  standard  it  was  poor  journalism.  In  this 
view  it  is  a  remarkable  production,  but  in  another  as 
pect  it  is  still  more  remarkable  in  that  it  took  with 
absolute  accuracy  the  measure  of  the  man.  As  a 
mental  likeness  it  is  simply  perfect.  At  no  time  dur 
ing  his  later  life  did  the  picture  cease  to  be  an  exact 
moral  representation  of  his  character.  It  seems  quite 


THE    FATHER    OF    THE    MAN.  29 

unnecessary,  therefore,  to  record  that  he  proceeded 
immediately   to    demonstrate   that   it   was   no   high 
sounding    and    insincere    declaration.       For    in    the 
second    number,    he    mentions    with    that    singular 
serenity,  which  ever  distinguished  him  on  such  occa 
sions,  the  discontinuance  of  the  paper  on  account  of 
matter  contained  in  the  first  issue,  by  ten  indignant 
subscribers.     "  Nevertheless,"  he  adds,    "  our  happi 
ness  at  the    loss  of   such    subscribers  is  not  a  whit 
abated.     We  beg  no  man's  patronage,  and   shall  ever 
erase  with  the  same  cheerfulness  that  we  insert  the 
name  of  any  individual.     .     .     .     Personal  or  politi 
cal  offence  we  shall   studiously   avoid — truth  never." 
Here  was  plainly  a  wholly  new  species  of  the  genus 
homo  in  the  editorial  seat.     What,  expect  to  make  a 
newspaper  pay  and   not  beg   for  patronage  ?     Why 
the  very  idea  was  enough    to   make   newspaperdom 
go  to  pieces  with   laughter.     Begging  for  patronage, 
howling  for  subscribers,  cringing,  crawling,  changing 
color  like   the   chameleon,  howling  for  Barabbas  or 
bellowing  against  Jesus,  all  these   things  must  your 
newspaper  do  to  prosper.     On  them  verily  hang  the 
whole  law  and  all  the  profits  of  modern  journalism. 
This  is  what  the  devil  of  competition  was  doing  in 
that  world  when  William  Lloyd  Garrison  entered  it. 
It  took  him  up  into  an  exceedingly  high  mountain,  we 
may  be  certain,  and  offered  him  wealth,  position,  and 
power,  if  he  would  do  what  all  others  were  doing.  And 
he  would  not.     He  went  on  editing  and   publishing 
his  paper  for  six  months  regardful  only  of  what  his 
reason    approved — regardless    always   of   the    disap 
proval  of  others.     Not  once  did  he  palter  with  his 
convictions  or  juggle   with  his  self-respect   for   the 


30  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

sake  of  pelf  or  applause.  His  human  horizon  was 
contracted,  to  be  sure.  It  could  hardly  be  otherwise 
in  one  so  young.  His  world  was  his  country,  and 
patriotism  imposed  limits  upon  his  affections.  "Our 
country,  our  whole  country,  and  nothing  but  our 
country,"  was  the  ardent  motto  of  the  Free  Press. 
The  love  of  family  comes,  in  the  order  of  growth,  be 
fore  the  love  of  country  ;  and  the  love  of  country 
precedes  the  love  of  all  mankind.  "  First  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear,"  is  the 
great  law  of  love  in  the  soul  as  of  corn  in  the  soil.  Be 
sides  this  contraction  of  the  affections,  there  was  also 
manifest  in  his  first  journalistic  venture  a  deficiency 
in  the  organ  of  vision,  a  failure  to  see  into  things  and 
their  relations.  What  he  saw  he  reported  faithfully, 
suppressing  nothing,  adding  nothing.  But  the  ob 
jects  which  passed  across  the  disk  of  his  editoral  in 
telligence  were  confined  almost  entirely  to  the 
surface  of  things,  to  the  superficies  of  national 
life.  He  had  not  the  ken  at  twenty  to  penetrate  be 
neath  the  happenings  of  current  politics.  Of  the  ex 
istence  of  slavery  as  a  supreme  reality,  we  do  not 
think  that  he  then  had  the  faintest  suspicion.  No 
shadow  of  its  tremendous  influence  as  a  political 
power  seemed  to  have  arrested  for  a  brief  instant  his 
attention.  He  could  copy  into  his  paper  this 
atrocious  sentiment  which  Edward  Everett  delivered 
in  Congress,  without  the  slightest  comment  or 
allusion.  "  Sir,  I  am  no  soldier.  My  habits  and  ed 
ucation  are  very  unmilitary,  but  there  is  no  cause  in 
which  I  would  sooner  buckle  a  knapsack  on  my 
back,  and  put  a  musket  on  my  shoulder  than  that  of 
putting  down  a  servile  insurrection  at  the  South." 


THE    FATHER    OF   THE    MAN.  31 

The  reason  is  plain  enough.  Slavery  was  a  terra 
incognito  to  him  then,  a  book  of  which  he  had  not 
learned  the  ABC.  Mr.  Everett's  language  made 
no  impression  on  him,  because  he  had  not  the  key  to 
interpret  its  significance.  What  he  saw,  that  he  set 
down  for  his  readers,  without  fear  or  favor.  He  had 
not  seen  slavery,  knew  nothing  of  the  evil.  Acquaint 
ance  with  the  deeper  things  of  life,  individual  or 
national,  comes  only  with  increasing  years,  they  are 
hardly  for  him  who  has  not  yet  reached  his  majority. 
Slavery  was  the  very  deepest  thing  in  the  life  of  the 
nation  sixty-four  years  ago.  And  if  Garrison  did  not 
then  so  understand  it,  neither  did  his  contemporaries, 
the  wisest  and  greatest  of  them  so  understand  it. 
The  subject  of  all  others  which  attracted  his  atten 
tion,  and  kept  his  editorial  pen  busy,  was  the  claim 
of  Massachusetts  for  indemnity  from  the  general  gov 
ernment,  for  certain  disbursements  made  by  her  for 
the  defence  of  her  sea-coast  during  the  war  of  1812. 
This  matter,  which  forms  but  a  mere  dust  point  in 
the  perspective  of  history,  his  ardent  young  mind 
mistook  for  a  principal  object,  erected  into  a  perma 
nent  question  in  the  politics  of  the  times.  But  the 
expenditure  of  enormous  energies  upon  things  of 
secondary  and  of  even  tertiary  importance,  to  the 
neglect  of  others  of  prime  and  lasting  interest,  is 
supremely  human.  He  was  errant  where  all  men  go 
astray.  But  the  schoolmaster  of  the  nation  was 
abroad,  and  was  training  this  young  man  for  the 
work  he  was  born  to  do.  These  six  months  were, 
therefore,  not  wasted,  for  in  the  university  of  ex 
perience  he  did  ever  prove  himself  an  apt  scholar. 
One  lesson  he  had  learned,  which  he  never  needed  to 


32  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

relearn.  Just  what  that  lesson  was,  he  tells  in  his 
valedictory  to  the  subscribers  of  the  Free  Press,  as 
follows:  "This  is  a  time-serving  age;  and  he  who 
attempts  to  walk  uprightly  or  speak  honestly,  can 
not  rationally  calculate  upon  speedy  wealth  or  pre 
ferment."  A  sad  lesson,  to  be  sure,  for  one  so  young 
to  learn  so  thoroughly.  Perhaps  some  reader  will 
say  that  this  was  cynical,  the  result  of  disappoint 
ment.  But  it  was  not  cynical,  neither  was  it  the  re 
sult  of  disappointment.  It  was  unvarnished  truth, 
and  more's  the  pity,  but  truth  it  was  none  the  less. 
It  was  one  of  those  hard  facts,  which  he  of  all  men, 
needed  to  know  at  the  threshold  of  his  experience 
with  the  world.  Such  a  revelation  proves  disastrous 
to  the  many  who  go  down  to  do  business  in  that 
world.  Ordinary  and  weak  and  neutral  moral  con 
stitutions  are  wrecked  on  this  reef  set  in  the  human 
sea.  Like  a  true  mariner  he  had  written  it  boldly  on 
his  chart.  There  at  such  and  such  a  point  in  the  voy 
age  for  the  golden  fleece,  were  the  rocks  and  the  soul- 
devouring  dragons  of  the  way.  Therefore,  oh!  my 
soul,  beware.  What,  indeed,  would  this  argonaut  of 
the  press  take  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?  Certainly 
not  speedy  wealth  nor  preferment.  Ah  !  he  could 
not  praise  where  he  ought  to  reprobate  ;  could  not 
reprobate  where  praise  should  be  the  meed.  He  had 
no  money  and  little  learning,  but  he  had  a  conscience 
and  he  knew  that  he  must  be  true  to  that  conscience, 
come  to  him  either  weal  or  woe.  Want  renders 
most  men  vulnerable,  but  to  it,  he  appeared,  at  this 
early  age,  absolutely  invulnerable.  Should  he  and 
that  almost  omnipotent  inquisitor,  public  opinion, 
ever  in  the  future  come  into  collision  upon  any  prin- 


THE    FATHER    OF    THE    MAN.  33 

ciple  of  action,  a  keen  student  of  human  nature 
might  forsee  that  the  young  recusant  could  never  be 
starved  into  silence  or  conformity  to  popular 
standards.  And  with  this  stern,  sad  lesson  treasured 
up  in  his  heart,  Garrison  graduated  from  another/ 
room  in  the  school-house  of  experience.  All  the  dis 
coveries  of  the  young  journalist  were  not  of  this 
grim  character.  He  made  another  discovery  alto 
gether  different,  a  real  gem  of  its  kind.  The  drag 
net  of  a  newspaper  catches  all  sorts  of  poets  and 
poetry,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent — oftener  the  bad 
and  indifferent,  rarely  the  good.  The  drag-net  of  the 
Free  Press  was  no  exception  to  this  rule  ;  but,  one 
day,  it  fetched  up  from  the  depths  of  the  hard  com 
monplaces  of  our  New  England  town  life  a  genuine 
pearl.  We  will  let  Mr.  Garrison  tell  the  story  in  his 
own  way: 

"  Going  up-stairs  to  my  office,  one  day,  I  observed 
a  letter  lying  near  the  door,  to  my  address;  which,  on 
opening,  I  found  to  contain  an  original  piece  of  poetry 
for  my  paper,  the  Free  Press.  The  ink  was  very 
pale,  the  handwriting  very  small;  and,  having  at  that 
time  a  horror  of  newspaper  original  poetry — which 
has  rather  increased  than  diminished  with  the  lapse 
of  time — my  first  impulse  was  to  tear  it  in  pieces, 
without  reading  it;  the  chances  of  rejection,  after  its 
perusal,  being  as  ninety-nine  to  one;  .  .  .  but  sum 
moning  resolution  to  read  it,  I  was  equally  surprised 
and  gratified  to  find  it  above  mediocrity,  and  so  gave 
it  a  place  in  my  journal.  .  .  .  As  I  was  anxious  to 
find  out  the  writer,  my  post-rider,  one  day,  divulged 
the  secret,  stating  that  he  had  dropped  the  letter  in 
the  manner  described,  and  that  it  was  written  by  a 


34  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Quaker  lad,  named  Whittier,  who  was  daily  at  work 
on  the  shoemaker's  bench,  with  hammer  and  lap- 
stone,  at  East  Haverhill.  Jumping  into  a  vehicle,  I 
lost  no  time  in  driving  to  see  the  youthful  rustic 
bard,  who  came  into  the  room  with  shrinking  diffi 
dence,  almost  unable  to  speak,  and  blushing  like  a 
maiden.  Giving  him  some  words  of  encouragement, 
I  addressed  myself  more  particularly  to  his  parents, 
and  urged  them  with  great  earnestness  to  grant  him 
every  possible  facility  for  the  development  of  his 
remarkable  genius." 

Garrison  had  not  only  found  a  true  poet,  but  a  true 
friend  as  well,  in  the  Quaker  lad,  John  Greenleaf 
Whittier.  The  friendship  which  sprang  up  between 
the  two  was  to  last  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
former.  Neither  of  them  in  those  days  of  small 
things  could  have  possibly  by  any  flight  of  the  imagi 
nation  foreseen  how  their  two  lives,  moving  in  par 
allel  lines,  would  run  deep  their  shining  furrows 
through  one  of  the  greatest  chapters  of  human  his 
tory.  But  I  am  anticipating,  and  that  is  a  vice  of 
which  no  good  storyteller  ought  to  be  guilty.  So, 
then,  let  me  incontinently  return  from  this  excursion 
and  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  my  tale. 

Garrison  had  stepped  down  from  his  elevated  posi 
tion  as  the  publisher  and  editor  of  the  Free  Press. 
He  was  without  work,  and,  being  penniless,  it  be 
hooved  him  to  find  some  means  of  support.  With 
the  instinct  of  the  bright  New  England  boy,  he  deter 
mined  to  seek  his  fortunes  in  Boston.  If  his  honesty 
and  independence  put  him  at  a  disadvantage,  as  pub 
lisher  and  editor,  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  he 
had  still  his  trade  as  a  compositor  to  fall  back  upon 


THE    FATHER    OF    THE    MAN.  35 

As  a  journeyman  printer  he  would  earn  his  bread, 
and  preserve  the  integrity  of  an  upright  spirit.  And 
so  without  a  murmur,  and  with  cheerfulness  and  per 
sistency,  he  hunted  for  weeks  on  the  streets  of  Boston 
for  a  chance  to  set  types.  This  hunting  for  a  job  in 
a  strange  city  was  discouraging  enough.  Twice  be 
fore  had  he  visited  the  place,  which  was  to  be  his 
future  home.  Once  when  on  his  way  to  Baltimore 
to  see  his  mother,  and  once  afterward  when  on  a  sort 
of  pleasure  tramp  with  three  companions.  But  the 
slight  knowledge  which  he  was  able  to  obtain  of  the 
town  and  its  inhabitants  under  these  circumstances 
did  not  now  help  him,  when  from  office  to  office  he 
went  in  quest  of  something  to  do.  After  many  fail 
ures  and  renewed  searchings,  he  found  what  he  was 
after,  an  opportunity  to  practice  his  trade.  Business 
was  dull,  which  kept  our  journeyman  printer  on  the 
wing  ;  first  at  one  and  then  at  another  printing  office 
we  find  him  setting  types  for  a  living  during  the 
year  1827.  The  winning  of  bread  was  no  easy  matter; 
but  he  was  not  ashamed  to  work,  neither  was  he 
afraid  of  hard  work.  During  this  year,  he  found 
time  to  take  a  hand  in  a  little  practical  politics. 
There  was  in  July,  1827,  a  caucus  of  the  Federal  party 
to  nominate  a  successor  to  Daniel  Webster  in  the 
House  of  Representatives.  Young  Garrison  attended 
this  caucus,  and  made  havoc  of  its  cut  and  dried  pro 
gramme,  by  moving  the  nomination  of  Harrison 
Gray  Otis,  instead  of  the  candidate,  a  Mr.  Benjamin 
Gorham,  agreed  upon  by  the  leaders.  Harrison  Gray 
Otis  was  one  of  Garrison's  early  and  particular  idols. 
He  was,  perhaps,  the  one  Massachusetts  politician 
whom  the  young  Federalist  had  placed  on  a 


3  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

pedestal.  And  so  on  this  occasion  he  went  into  the 
caucus  with  a  written  speech  in  his  hat,  eulogistic  of 
his  favorite.  He  had  meant  to  have  the  speech  at 
his  tongue's  end,  and  to  get  it  off  as  if  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment.  But  the  speech  stayed  where  it  was 
put,  in  the  speaker's  hat,  and  failed  to  materialize 
where  and  when  it  was  wanted  on  the  speaker's 
tongue.  As  the  mountain  would  not  go  to  Mahomet, 
Mahomet  like  a  sensible  prophet  went  to  the  moun 
tain.  Our  orator  in  imitation  of  this  illustrious 
example,  bowed  to  the  inevitable  and  went  to  his 
mountain.  Pulling  his  extempore  remarks  out  of  his 
hat,  he  delivered  himself  of  them  to  such  effect  as  to 
create  quite  an  Otis  sentiment  in  the  meeting.  This 
performance  was,  of  course,  a  shocking  offence  in  the 
eyes  of  those,  whose  plans  it  had  disturbed.  With 
one  particular  old  fogy  he  got  into  something  of  a 
newspaper  controversy  in  consequence.  The  "  con 
summate  assurance  "  of  one  so  young  fairly  knocked 
the  breath  out  of  this  Mr.  Eminent  Respectability  ; 
it  was  absolutely  revolting  to  all  his  "  ideas  of  pro 
priety,  to  see  a  stranger,  a  man  who  never  paid  a  tax 
in  our  city,  and  perhaps  no  where  else,  to  possess  the 
impudence  to  take  the  lead  and  nominate  a  candidate 
for  the  electors  of  Boston  !"  The  "young  gentleman 
of  six  months  standing,"  was  not  a  whit  abashed  or 
awed  by  the  commotion  which  he  had  produced. 
That  was  simply  a  case  of  cause  and  effect.  But  he 
seemed  in  turn  astonished  at  his  opponent's  evident 
ignorance  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison.  "  It  is  true," 
he  replied,  with  the  proud  dignity  of  conscious  power, 
"  it  is  true  that  my  acquaintance  in  this  city  is  lim 
ited.  I  have  sought  none.  Let  me  assure  him,  how- 


THE    FATHER   OF    THE    MAX.  37 

ever,  that  if  my  life  be  spared,  my  name  shall  one 
day  be  known  to  the  world — at  least  to  such  extent 
that  common  inquiry  shall  be  unnecessary.  This,  I 
know  will  be  deemed  excessive  vanity — but  time 
shall  prove  it  prophetic."  To  the  charge  of  youth 
he  makes  this  stinging  rejoinder,  which  evinces  the 
progress  he  was  making  in  the  tournament  of  lan 
guage  :  "  The  little,  paltry  sneers  at  my  youth  by 
your  correspondent  have  long  since  become  point 
less.  It  is  the  privileged  abuse  of  old  age — the 
hackneyed  allegation  of  a  thousand  centuries — the 
damning  crime  to  which  all  men  have  been  subjected. 
I  leave  it  to  metaphysicians  to  determine  the  precise 
moment  when  wisdom  and  experience  leap  into  exis 
tence,  when,  for  the  first  time,  the  mind  distinguishes 
truth  from  error,  selfishness  from  patriotism,  and 
passion  from  reason.  It  is  sufficient  for  me  that  I  am 
understood."  This  was  Garrison's  first  experience  with 
"gentlemen  of  property  and  standing"  in  Boston. 
It  was  not  his  last,  as  future  chapters  will  abundantly 
show. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  MAN  HEARS  A  VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  ! 

THERE  is  a  moment  in  the  life  of  every  serious  soul, 
when  things,  which  were  before  unseen  and  unheard 
in  the  world  around  him  become  visible  and  audible. 
This  startling  moment  comes  to  some  sooner,  to  others 
later,  but  to  all,  who  are  not  totally  given  up  to  the 
service  of  self,  at  sometime  surely.  From  that  mo 
ment  a  change  passes  over  such  an  one,  for  more  and 
more  he  hears  mysterious  voices,  and  clearer  and 
more  clear  he  sees  apparitional  forms  floating  up 
from  the  depths  above  which  he  kneels.  Whence 
come  they,  what  mean  they  ?  He  leans  over  the 
abyss,  and  lo  !  the  sounds  to  which  he  hearkens  are 
the  voices  of  human  weeping  and  the  forms  at  which 
he  gazes  are  the  apparitions  of  human  woe  ;  they 
beckon  to  him,  and  the  voices  beseech  him  in  multi 
tudinous  accent  and  heart-break  :  "  Come  over,  come 
down,  oh  !  friend  and  brother,  and  help  us."  Then 
he  straightway  puts  away  the  things  and  the  thoughts 
of  the  past  and  girding  himself  with  the  things,  and 
the  thoughts  of  the  divine  OUGHT  and  the  almighty 
MUST,  he  goes  over  and  down  to  the  rescue. 

Such  an  epochal  first  moment  came  to  William 
Lloyd  Garrison  in  the  streets  of  Boston.  Amid  the 
hard  struggle  for  bread  he  heard  the  abysmal  voices, 
saw  the  gaunt  forms  of  misery.  He  was  a  constant 

(38) 


THE    MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        39 

witness  of  the  ravages  of  the  demon  of  drink — saw 
how  strong  men  succumbed,  and  weak  ones  turned  to 
brutes  in  its  clutch.  And  were  they  not  his  brothers, 
the  strong  men  and  the  weak  ones  alike  ?  And  how 
could  he,  their  keeper,  see  them  desperately  beset 
and  not  fly  to  their  help  ?  Ah  !  he  could  not  and  did 
not  walk  by  on  the  other  side,  but,  stripling  though 
he  was,  rushed  to  do  battle  with  the  giant  vice,  which 
was  slaying  the  souls  and  the  bodies  of  his  fellow 
citizens.  Rum  during  the  three  first  decades  of  the 
present  century  was,  like  death,  no  respecter  of  per 
sons,  entering  with  equal  freedom  the  homes  of  the 
rich,  and  the  hovels  of  the  poor.  It  was  in  universal 
demand  by  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men.  No 
occasion  was  esteemed  too  sacred  for  its  presence  and 
use.  It  was  an  honored  guest  at  a  wedding,  a  christ 
ening,  or  a  funeral.  The  minister  whose  hands  were 
laid  in  baptismal  blessing  on  babes,  or  raised  in  the 
holy  sacrament  of  love  over  brides,  lifted  also  the 
glass ;  and  the  selfsame  lips  which  had  spoken  the 
last  words  over  the  dead,  drank  and  made  merry 
presently  afterward  among  the  decanters  on  the  side 
board.  It  mattered  not  for  what  the  building  was 
intended — whether  for  church,  school,  or  parsonage, 
rum  was  the  grand  master  of  ceremonies,  the  indis 
pensable  celebrant  at  the  various  stages  of  its  com 
pletion.  The  party  who  dug  the  parson  out  after  a 
snow-storm,  verily  got  their  reward,  a  sort  of  preliba- 
tion  of  the  visionary  sweets  of  that  land,  flowing 
not,  according  to  the  Jewish  notion,  with  milk  and 
honey,  but  according  to  the  revised  version  of  Yan- 
keedom,  with  milk  and  rum.  Rum  was,  forsooth,  a 
very  decent  devil,  if  judged  by  the  exalted  character 


40  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

of  the  company  it  kept.  It  stood  high  on  the  rungs 
of  the  social  ladder  and  pulled  and  pushed  men  from 
it  by  thousands  to  wretchedness  and  ruin.  So  flagrant 
and  universal  was  the  drinking  customs  of  Boston  then 
that  dealers  offered  on  the  commons  during  holidays, 
without  let  or  hindrance,  the  drunkard's  glass  to 
the  crowds  thronging  by  extemporized  booths  and 
bars.  Shocking  as  was  the  excesses  of  this  period 
"  nothing  comparatively  was  heard  on  the  subject  of 
intemperance — it  was  seldom  a  theme  for  the  essay 
ist — the  newspapers  scarcely  acknowledged  its  exist 
ence,  excepting  occasionally  in  connection  with  some 
catastrophes  or  crimes — the  Christian  and  patriot, 
while  they  perceived  its  ravages,  formed  no  plans  for 
its  overthrow — and  it  did  not  occur  to  any  that  a 
paper  devoted  mainly  to  its  suppression,  might  be 
made  a  direct  and  successful  engine  in  the  great 
work  of  reform.  Private  expostulations  and  individ 
ual  confessions  were  indeed  sometimes  made  ;  but 
no  systematic  efforts  were  adopted  to  give  precision 
to  the  views  or  a  bias  to  the  sentiments  of  the 
people."  Such  was  the  state  of  public  morals  and 
the  state  of  public  sentiment  up  to  the  year  1826, 
when  there  occurred  a  change.  This  change  was 
brought  about  chiefly  through  the  instrumentality 
of  a  Baptist  city  missionary,  the  Rev.  William 
Collier.  His  labors  among  the  poor  of  Boston  had 
doubtless  revealed  to  him  the  bestial  character  of 
intemperance,  and  the  necessity  of  doing  something 
to  check  and  put  an  end  to  the  havoc  it  was  work 
ing.  With  this  design  he  established  the  National 
Philanthropist  in  Boston,  March  4,  1826.  The  editor 
was  one  of  Garrison's  earliest  acquaintances  in  the 


THE    MAN    HEARS   A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        4! 

city.  Garrison  went  after  awhile  to  board  with  him, 
and  still  later  entered  the  office  of  the  Philanthropist 
as  a  type-setter.  The  printer  of  the  paper,  Nathaniel 
H.  White  and  young  Garrison,  occupied  the  same 
room  at  Mr.  Collier's.  And  so  almost  before  our 
hero  was  aware,  he  had  launched  his  bark  upon  the 
sea  of  the  temperance  reform.  Presently,  when  the 
founder  of  the  paper  retired,  it  seemed  the  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world,  that  the  young  journey 
man  printer,  with  his  editorial  experience  and  ability, 
should  succeed  him  as  editor.  His  room-mate, 
White,  bought  the  Philanthropist,  and  in  April  1828, 
formally  installed  Garrison  into  its  editorship.  Into 
this  new  work  he  carried  all  his  moral  earnestness 
and  enthusiasm  of  purpose.  The  paper  grew  under 
his  hand  in  size,  typographical  appearance,  and  in 
editorial  force  and  capacity.  It  was  a  wide-awake 
sentinel  on  the  wall  of  society ;  and  week  after 
week  its  columns  bristled  and  flashed  with  apposite 
facts,  telling  arguments,  shrewd  suggestions,  cogent 
appeals  to  the  community  to  destroy  the  accursed 
thing.  No  better  education  could  he  have  had  as 
the  preparation  for  his  life  work.  He  began  to 
understand  then  the  strength  of  deep-seated  public 
evils,  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  methods  and  in 
struments  with  which  to  attack  them.  The  Philan 
thropist  was  a  sort  of  forerunner,  so  far  as  the  train 
ing  in  intelligent  and  effective  agitation  was  con 
cerned,  of  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation  and 
of  the  Liberator.  One  cannot  read  his  sketch  of  the 
progress  niade  by  the  temperance  reform,  from 
which  I  have  already  quoted,  and  published  by  him 
in  the  Philanthropist  in  April,  1828,  without  being 


42  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

struck  by  the  strong  similitude  of  the  temperance 
to  the  anti-slavery  movement  in  their  beginnings. 
"  When  this  paper  was  first  proposed,"  the  young 
temperance  editor  records,  "  it  met  with  a  repulsion 
which  would  have  utterly  discouraged  a  less  zeal 
ous  and  persevering  man  than  our  predecessor.  The 
moralist  looked  on  doubtfully — the  whole  community 
esteemed  the  enterprise  desperate.  Mountains  of 
prejudice,  overtopping  the  Alps,  were  to  be  beaten 
down  to  a  level — strong  interest,  connected  by  a 
thousand  links,  severed — new  habits  formed;  Every 
house,  and  almost  every  individual,  in  a  greater  or 
less  degree,  reclaimed.  Derision  and  contumely 
were  busy  in  crushing  this  sublime  project  in  its 
birth — coldness  and  apathy  encompassed  it  on  every 
side — but  our  predecessor,  nevertheless,  went  boldly 
forward  with  a  giant's  strength  and  more  than  a 
giant's  heart — conscious  of  difficulties  and  perils, 
though  not  disheartened,  armed  with  the  weapons 
of  truth — full  of  meekness,  yet  certain  of  a  splendid 
victory — and  relying  on  the  promises  of  God  for 
the  issue."  What  an  inestimable  object-lesson  to 
Garrison  was  the  example  of  this  good  man  going 
forth  singlehanded  to  do  battle  with  one  of  the 
greatest  evils  of  the  age  !  It  was  not  numerical 
strength,  but  the  faith  of  one  earnest  soul  that  is 
able  in  the  world  of  ideas  and  human  passions  to  re 
move  mountains  out  of  the  way  of  the  onward  march 
of  mankind.  This  truth,  we  may  be  sure,  sunk  many 
fathoms  deep  into  the  mind  of  the  young  moralist. 
And  no  wonder.  For  the  results  of  two  years  agita 
tion  and  seed  sowing  were  of  the  most  astonishing 
character.  "The  change  which  has  taken  place  in 


THE    MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  I    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        43 

public  sentiment,"  he  continues,  "  is  indeed  remark 
able  .  .  .  incorporated  as  intemperance  was,  and 
still  w,  into  our  very  existence  as  a  people.  .  .  . 
A  regenerating  spirit  is  everywhere  seen  ;  a 
strong  impulse  to  action  has  been  given,  which,  be 
ginning  in  the  breasts  of  a  few  individuals,  and 
then  affecting  villages,  and  cities,  and  finally  whole 
States,  has  rolled  onward  triumphantly  through  the 
remotest  sections  of  the  republic.  As  union  and 
example  are  the  levers  adopted  to  remove  this  gi 
gantic  vice,  temperance  societies  have  been  rapidly 
multiplied,  many  on  the  principle  of  entire  absti 
nence,  and  others  making  it  a  duty  to  abstain  from 
encouraging  the  distillation  and  consumption  of 
spirituous  liquors.  Expressions  of  the  deep  abhor 
rence  and  sympathy  which  are  felt  in  regard  to  the 
awful  prevalence  of  drunkenness  are  constantly 
emanating  from  legislative  bodies  down  to  various 
religious  conventions,  medical  associations,  grand 
juries,  etc.,  etc.  But  nothing  has  more  clearly 
evinced  the  strength  of  this  excitement  than  the 
general  interest  taken  in  this  subject  by  the  con 
ductors  of  the  press.  From  Maine  to  the  Mississippi, 
and  as  far  as  printing  has  penetrated — even  among 
the  Cherokee  Indians — but  one  sentiment  seems  to 
pervade  the  public  papers,  viz.,  the  ^necessity  of 
strenuous  exertion  for  the  suppression  of  intemper 
ance."  Such  a  demonstration  of  the  tremendous 
power  of  a  single  righteous  soul  for  good,  we  may 
be  sure,  exerted  upon  Garrison  lasting  influences. 
What  a  revelation  it  was  also  of  the  transcendent 
part  which  the  press  was  capable  of  playing  in  the 
revolution  of  popular  sentiment  upon  moral  ques- 


44  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

tions ;  and  of  the  supreme  service  of  organization 
as  a  factor  in  reformatory  movements.  The  seeds 
sowed  were  faith  in  the  convictions  of  one  man  against 
the  opinions,  the  prejudices,  and  the  practices  of  the 
multitude  ;  and  knowledge  of  and  skill  in  the  use  of 
the  instruments  by  which  the  individual  conscience 
may  be  made  to  correct  and  renovate  the  moral 
sense  of  a  nation.  But  there  was  another  seed  corn 
dropped  at  this  time  in  his  mind,  and  that  is  the 
immense  utility  of  woman  in  the  work  of  regenerating 
society.  She  it  is  who  feels  even  more  than  man  the 
effects  of  social  vices  and  sins,  and  to  her  the  moral  re 
former  should  strenuously  appeal  for  aid.  And  this, 
with  the  instinct  of  genius,  Garrison  did  in  the 
temperance  reform,  nearly  seventy  years  ago.  His 
editorials  in  the  Philanthropist  in  the  year  1828  on 
"  Female  Influence "  may  be  said  to  be  the  courier 
avant  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union 
of  to-day,  as  they  were  certainly  the  precursors  of  the 
female  anti-slavery  societies  of  a  few  years  later. 

But  now,  without  his  knowing  it,  a  stranger  from 
a  distant  city  entered  Boston  with  a  message, 
which  was  to  change  the  whole  purpose  of  the  young 
editor's  life.  It  was  Benjamin  Lundy,  the  indefati 
gable  friend  of  the  Southern  slave,  the  man  who 
carried  within  his  breast  the  whole  menagerie  of 
Southern  slavery.  He  was  fresh  from  the  city 
which  held  the  dust  of  Fanny  Garrison,  who  had 
once  written  to  her  boy  in  Newburyport,  how  the 
good  God  had  cared  for  her  in  the  person  of  a 
colored  woman.  Yes,  she  had  written:  "  The  ladies 
are  all  kind  to  me,  and  I  have  a  colored  woman  that 
waits  on  me,  that  is  so  kind  no  one  can  tell  how  kind 


THE   MAN    HEARS   A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        45 

she  is;  and  although  a  slave  to  man,  yet  a  free-born 
soul,  by  the  grace  of  God.  Her  name  is  Henny, 
and  should  I  never  see  you  again,  and  you  should 
come  where  she  is,  remember  her,  for  your  poor 
mother's  sake."  And  now,  without  his  dreaming  of 
it,  this  devoted  Samaritan  in  black,  who,  perhaps, 
had  long  ago  joined  her  dear  friend  in  the  grave,  was 
coming  to  that  very  boy,  now  grown  to  manhood,  to 
claim  for  her  race  what  the  mother  had  asked  for 
her,  the  kind  slave-woman.  Not  one  of  all  those  little 
ones  of  the  nation  but  who  had  a  home  in  the  many- 
mansioned  heart  of  Lundy.  He  had  been  an  eye  and 
ear  witness  of  the  barbarism  of  slavery.  "  My 
heart,"  he  sobbed,  "  was  deeply  grieved  at  the  gross 
abomination;  I  heard  the  wail  of  the  captive;  I  felt 
his  pang  of  distress,  and  the  iron  entered  my  soul." 
With  apostolic  faith  and  zeal  he  had  for  a  decade 
been  striving  to  free  the  captive,  and  to  tie  up  his 
bruised  spirit.  Sadly,  but  with  a  great  love,  he  had 
gone  about  the  country  on  his  self-imposed  task. 
To  do  this  work  he  had  given  up  the  business  of  a 
saddler,  in  which  he  had  prospered,  had  sacrificed 
his  possessions,  and  renounced  the  ease  that  comes 
with  wealth  ;  had  courted  unheard-of  hardships, 
and  wedded  himself  for  better  and  worse  to  poverty 
and  unremitting  endeavor.  Nothing  did  he  esteem  too 
dear  to  relinquish  for  the  slave.  Neither  wife  nor 
children  did  he  withhold.  Neither  the  summer's 
heat  nor  the  winter's  cold  was  able  to  daunt  him  or 
turn  him  from  his  object.  Though  diminutive  and 
delicate  of  body,  no  distance  or  difficulty  of  travel 
was  ever  able  to  deter  him  from  doing  what  his 
humanity  had  bidden  him  do.  From  place  to  place, 


46  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

through  nineteen  States,  he  had  traveled,  sowing  as 
he  went  the  seeds  of  his  holy  purpose,  and  watering 
them  with  his  life's  blood.  Not  Livingstone  nor 
Stanley  on  the  dark  continent  exceeded  in  sheer 
physical  exertion  and  endurance  the  labors  of  this 
wonderful  man.  He  belongs  in  the  category  of 
great  explorers,  only  the  irresistible  passion  and  pur 
pose,  which  pushed  him  forward,  had  humanity,  not 
geography,  as  their  goal.  Where,  in  the  lives  of 
either  Stanley  or  Livingstone  do  we  find  a  record  of 
more  astonishing  activity  and  achievement  than  what 
is  contained  in  these  sentences,  written  by  Garrison 
of  Lundy,  in  the  winter  of  1828?  "Within  a  few 
months  he  has  traveled  about  twenty-four  hundred 
miles,  of  which  upwards  of  nineteen  hundred  were 
performed  on  foot !  during  which  time  he  has  held 
nearly  fifty  public  meetings.  Rivers  and  mountains 
vanish  in  his  path;  midnight  finds  him  wending  his 
solitary  way  over  an  unfrequented  road;  the  sun  is 
anticipated  in  his  rising.  Never  was  moral  sublimity 
of  character  better  illustrated."  Such  was  the 
marvelous  man,  whose  visit  to  Boston,  in  the  month 
of  March,  of  the  year  1828,  dates  the  beginning  of  a 
new  epoch  in  the  history  of  America.  The  event  of 
that  year  was  not  the  "Bill  of  Abominations,"  great 
as  was  the  national  excitement  which  it  produced; 
nor  was  it  yet  the  then  impending  political  struggle 
between  Jackson  and  Adams,  but  the  unnoticed 
meeting  of  Lundy  and  Garrison.  Great  historic 
movements  are  born  not  in  the  whirlwinds,  the  earth 
quakes,  and  the  pomps  of  human  splendor  and 
power,  but  in  the  agonies  and  enthusiasms  of  grand, 
heroic  spirits.  Up  to  this  time  Garrison  had  had,  as 


THE    MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        47 

the.  religious  revivalist  would  say,  no  "realizing 
sense  "  of  the  enormity  of  slave-holding.  Occasion 
ally  an  utterance  had  dropped  from  his  pen  which 
indicated  that  his  heart  was  right  on  the  subject,  but 
which  evinced  no  more  than  the  ordinary  opposition 
to  its  existence,  nor  any  profound  convictions  as  to 
his  own  or  the  nation's  duty  in  regard  to  its  extinc 
tion.  His  first  reference  to  the  question  appeared  in 
connection  with  a  notice  made  by  him  in  the  Free 
Press  of  a  spirited  poem,  entitled  "  Africa,"  in  which 
the  authoress  sings  of  : 

"  The  wild  and  mingling  groans  of  writhing  millions, 
Calling  for  vengeance  on  my  guilty  land." 

He  commended  the  verses  "to  all  those  who  wish  to 
cherish  female  genius,  and  whose  best  feelings  are 
enlisted  in  the  cause  of  the  poor  oppressed  sons  of 
Africa."  He  was  evidently  impressed,  but  the  impres 
sion  belonged  to  the  ordinary,  transitory  sort.  His 
next  recorded  utterance  on  the  subject  was  also  in 
the  Free  Press.  It  was  made  in  relation  with  some 
just  and  admirable  strictures  on  the  regulation  Fourth 
of  July  oration,  with  its  "  ceaseless  apostrophes  to 
liberty,  and  fierce  denunciations  of  tyranny."  Such 
a  tone  was  false  and  mischievous — the  occasion  was 
for  other  and  graver  matter.  "  There  is  one  theme," 
he  declares,  "  which  should  be  dwelt  upon,  till  our 
whole  country  is  free  from  the  curse — it  is  slavery." 
The  emphasis  and  energy  of  the  rebuke  and  exhorta 
tion  lifts  this  second  allusion  to  slavery,  quite  outside 
of  merely  ordinary  occurrences.  It  was  not  an  ordi 
nary  personal  occurrence  for  it  served  to  reveal  in  its 
lightning-like  flash  the  glow  and  glare  of  a  conscience 
taking  fire.  The  fire  slumbered  until  a  few  weeks 


48  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

before  Lundy  entered  Boston,  when  there  were  again 
the  glow  and  glare  of  a  moral  sense  in  the  first  stages 
of  ignition  on  the  enormity  of  slave  institutions.  The 
act  of  South  Carolina  in  making  it  illegal  to  teach  a 
colored  person  to  read  and  write  struck  this  spark 
from  his  pen  :  "  There  is  something  unspeakably 
pitiable  and  alarming,"  he  writes  in  the  Philanthropist, 
"  in  the  state  of  that  society  where  it  is  deemed  nec 
essary,  for  self-preservation,  to  seal  up  the  mind  and 
debase  the  intellect  of  man  to  brutal  incapacity.  .  .  . 
Truly  the  alternatives  of  oppression  are  terrible.  But 
this  state  of  things  cannot  always  last,  nor  ignorance 
alone  shield  us  from  destruction."  His  interest  in  the 
question  was  clearly  growing.  But  it  was  still  in  the 
gristle  of  sentiment  waiting  to  be  transmuted  into 
the  bone  and  muscle  of  a  definite  and  determined  pur 
pose,  when  first  he  met  Lundy.  This  meeting  of  the 
two  men,  was  to  Garrison  what  the  fourth  call  of  God 
was  to  Samuel,  the  Hebrew  lad, who  afterward  became 
a  prophet.  As  the  three  previous  calls  of  God  and 
the  conversations  with  Eli  had  prepared  the  Jewish 
boy  to  receive  and  understand  the  next  summons  of 
Jehovah,  so  had  Garrison's  former  experience  and 
education  made  him  ready  for  the  divine  message 
when  uttered  in  his  ears  by  Lundy.  All  the  sense  of 
truth  and  the  passion  for  righteousness  of  the  young 
man  replied  to  the  voice,  "  Here  am  I."  The  harden 
ing  process  of  growth  became  immediately  manifest 
in  him.  Whereas  before  there  was  sentimental  oppo 
sition  to  slavery,  there  began  then  an  opposition, 
active  and  practical.  When  Lundy  convened  many 
of  the  ministers  of  the  city  to  expose  to  them  the  bar 
barism  of  slavery,  Garrison  sat  in  the  room,  and  as 


THE    MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        49 

Lundy  himself  records,  "  expressed  his  approbation 
of  my  doctrines."  The  young  reformer  must  needs 
stand  up  and  make  public  profession  of  his  new  faith 
and  of  his  agreement  with  the  anti-slavery  principles 
of  the  older.  But  it  was  altogether  different  with  the 
assembled  ministers.  Lundy,  as  was  his  wont  on 
such  occasions,  desired  and  urged  the  formation  of  an 
anti-slavery  society,  but  these  sons  of  Eli  of  that  gen 
eration  were  not  willing  to  offend  their  slave-holding 
brethren  in  the  South.  Eyes  they  had,  but  they 
refused  to  see;  ears,  which  they  stopped  to  the  cry  of 
the  slave  breaking  in  anguish  and  appeal  from  the 
lips  of  this  modern  man  of  God.  Garrison,  eleven 
years  later,  after  the  lips,  which  were  eloquent  then 
with  their  great  sorrow,  were  speechless  in  the  grave, 
told  the  story  of  that  ministers'  meeting.  And 
here  is  the  story  : 

"  He  (Lundy)  might  as  well  have  urged  the  stones 
in  the  streets  to  cry  out  in  behalf  of  the  perishing 
captives.  Oh,  the  moral  cowardice,  the  chilling  apa 
thy,  the  criminal  unbelief,  the  cruel  skepticism,  that 
were  revealed  on  that  memorable  occasion  !  My  soul 
was  on  fire  then,  as  it  is  now,  in  view  of  such  a  devel 
opment.  Every  soul  in  the  room  was  heartily 
opposed  to  slavery,  but,  it  would  terribly  alarm  and 
enrage  the  South  to  know  that  an  anti-slavery  society 
existed  in  Boston.  But  it  would  do  harm  rather  than 
good  openly  to  agitate  the  subject.  But  perhaps  a 
select  committee  might  be  formed,  to  be  called  by  some 
name  that  would  neither  give  offence,  nor  excite  sus 
picion  as  to  its  real  design  !  One  or  two  only  were 
for  bold  and  decisive  action  ;  but  as  they  had  neither 
station  nor  influence,  and  did  not  rank  among  the 


50  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

wise  and  prudent,  their  opinion  did  not  weigh  very 
heavily,  and  the  project  was  finally  abandoned.  Poor 
Lundy  !  that  meeting  was  a  damper  to  his  feelings." 
There  is  no  doubt  that  Garrison  was  one  of  the  very 
few  present,  who  "  were  for  bold  and  decisive  action" 
against  the  iniquity.  The  grief  and  disappointment 
of  his  brave  friend  touched  his  heart  with  a  brother's 
affection  and  pity.  The  worldly  wisdom  and  luke- 
warmness  of  the  clergy  kindled  a  righteous  indigna 
tion  within  his  freedom-loving  soul.  This  was  his 
first  bitter  lesson  from  the  clergy.  There  were,  alas, 
many  and  bitterer  experiences  to  follow,  but  of  them 
he  little  recked  at  the  time.  As  this  nineteenth-cen 
tury  prophet  mused  upon  the  horrible  thing  the  fires 
of  a  life  purpose  burned  within  him.  And  oftener 
thenceforth  we  catch  glimpses  of  the  glow  and  glare 
of  a  soul  bursting  into  flame.  The  editorials  in  the 
Philanthropist,  which  swiftly  followed  Lundy's  visit, 
began  to  throw  off  more  heat  as  the  revolving  wheels 
of  an  electrical  machine  throw  off  sparks.  The  evil 
that  there  was  in  the  world,  under  which,  wherever  he 
turned,  he  saw  his  brother  man  staggering  and  bleed 
ing,  was  no  longer  what  it  had  been,  a  vague  and 
shadowy  apparition,  but  rather  a  terrible  and  tremen 
dous  reality  against  which  he  must  go  forth  to  fight 
the  fight  of  a  lifetime.  And  so  he  girded  him  with  his 
life  purpose  and  flung  his  moral  earnestness  against 
the  triple-headed  curse  of  intemperance,  slavery,  and 
war.  A  mighty  human  love  had  begun  to  flow 
inward  and  over  him.  And  as  the  tide  steadily  rose 
it  swallowed  and  drowned  all  the  egoism  of  self  and 
race  in  the  altruism  of  an  all-embracing  humanity. 
When  an  apprentice  in  the  office  of  the  Newburyport 


THE    MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  I    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL!        51 

Herald,  and  writing  on  the  subject  of  South  American 
affairs  he  grew  hot  over  the  wrongs  suffered  by 
American  vessels  at  Valparaiso  and  Lima.  He  was 
for  finishing  "  with  cannon  what  cannot  be  done  in  a 
conciliatory  and  equitable  manner,  where  justice 
demands  such  proceedings."  This  was  at  seventeen 
when  he  was  a  boy  with  the  thoughts  of  a  boy.  Six 
years  later  he  is  a  man  who  has  looked  upon  the  sor 
rows  of  men.  His  old  boy-world  is  far  behind  him, 
and  the  ever-present  sufferings  of  his  kind  are  in 
front  of  him.  War  now  is  no  longer  glorious,  for  it 
adds  immeasurably  to  the  sum  of  human  misery. 
War  ought  to  be  abolished  with  intemperance  and 
slavery.  And  this  duty  he  began  to  utter  in  the  ears 
of  his  country.  "  The  brightest  traits  in  the  American 
character  will  derive  their  luster,  not  from  the  laurels 
picked  from  the  field  of  blood,  not  from  the  magni 
tude  of  our  navy  and  the  success  of  our  arms,"  he 
proclaimed,  "  but  from  our  exertions  to  banish  war 
from  the  earth,  to  stay  the  ravages  of  intemperance 
among  all  that  is  beautiful  and  fair,  to  unfetter  those 
who  have  been  enthralled  by  chains,  which  we  have 
forged,  and  to  spread  the  light  of  knowledge  and 
religious  liberty,  wherever  darkness  and  superstition 
reign.  .  .  .  The  struggle  is  full  of  sublimity,  the  con 
quest  embraces  the  world."  Lundy  himself  did  not 
fully  appreciate  the  immense  gain,  which  his  cause 
had  made  in  the  conversion  of  Garrison  into  an  active 
friend  of  the  slave.  Not  at  once  certainly.  Later  he 
knew.  The  discovery  of  a  kindred  spirit  in  Boston 
exerted  probably  no  little  influence  in  turning  for  the 
second  time  his  indefatigable  feet  toward  that  city. 
He  made  it  a  second  visit  in  July,  1828,  where  again 


$2  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

he  met  Garrison.  His  experience  with  the  ministers 
did  not  deter  him  from  repeating  the  horrible  tale 
wherever  he  could  get  together  an  audience.  This 
time  he  secured  his  first  public  hearing  in  Boston. 
It  was  in  the  Federal  Street  Baptist  Church.  He 
spoke  not  only  on  the  subject  of  slavery  itself,  the 
growth  of  anti-slavery  societies,  but  on  a  new  phase 
of  the  general  subject,  viz.,  the  futility  of  the  Coloni 
zation  Society  as  an  abolition  instrument.  Garrison 
was  present,  and  treasured  up  in  his  heart  the  words 
of  his  friend.  He  did  not  forget  how  Lundy  had 
pressed  upon  his  hearers  the  importance  of  petition 
ing  Congress  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  as  we  shall  see  further  on.  But 
poor  Lundy  was  unfortunate  with  the  ministers.  He 
got  this  time  not  the  cold  shoulder  alone  but  a  cleri 
cal  slap  in  the  face  as  well.  He  had  just  sat  down 
when  the  pastor  of  the  church,  Rev.  Howard  Malcolm, 
uprose  in  wrath  and  inveighed  against  any  intermed 
dling  of  the  North  with  slavery,  and  brought  the 
meeting  with  a  high  hand  to  a  close.  This  incident 
was  the  first  collision  with  the  church  of  the  forlorn 
hope  of  the  Abolition  movement.  Trained  as  Garri 
son  was  in  the  orthodox  creed  and  sound  in  that  creed 
almost  to  bigotry,  this  behavior  of  a  standard-bearer 
of  the  church,  together  with  the  apathy  displayed  by 
the  clergy  on  a  former  occasion,  caused  probably  the 
first  "  little  rift  within  the  lute  "  of  his  creed,  "  that 
by  and  by  will  make  the  music  mute,  and,  ever  widen 
ing,  slowly  silence  all."  For  in  religion  as  in  love, 
"  Unfaith  in  aught  is  want  of  faith  in  all."  The  Rev. 
Howard  Malcolm's  arbitrary  proceeding  had  pre 
vented  the  organization  of  an  anti-slavery  committee. 


THE    MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  I    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        53 

But  this  was  affected  at  a  second  meeting  of  the 
friends  of  the  slave.  Garrison  was  one  of  the  twenty 
gentlemen  who  were  appointed  such  a  committee. 
His  zeal  and  energy  far  exceeded  the  zeal  and  energy 
of  the  remaining  nineteen.  He  did  not  need  the 
earnest  exhortation  of  Lundy  to  impress  upon  his 
memory  the  importance  of  "  activity  and  steady  per 
severance."  He  perceived  almost  at  once  that  every 
thing  depended  on  them.  And  so  he  had  formed 
plans  for  a  vigorous  campaign  against  the  existence 
of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  But  before  he 
was  ready  to  set  out  along  the  line  of  work,  which  he 
had  laid  down  for  Massachusetts,  the  scene  of  his 
labors  shifted  to  Bennington,  Vermont.  Before  he 
left  Boston,  Lundy  had  recognized  him  as  "  a  valuable 
coadjutor."  The  relationship  between  the  two  men 
was  becoming  beautifully  close.  The  more  Lundy 
saw  of  Garrison,  the  more  he  must  have  seemed  to 
him  a  man  after  his  own  heart.  And  so  no  wonder 
that  he  was  solicitous  of  fastening  him  to  his  cause 
with  hooks  of  steel.  The  older  had  written  the 
younger  reformer  a  letter  almost  paternal  in  tone — 
he  must  do  thus  and  thus,  he  must  not  be  dis 
appointed  if  he  finds  the  heavy  end  of  the  burthen 
borne  by  himself,  while  those  associated  with  him  do 
little  to  keep  the  wheels  moving,  he  must  remember 
that  "  a  few  will  have  the  labor  to  perform  and  the 
honor  to  share."  Then  there  creeps  into  his  words  a 
grain  of  doubt,  a  vague  fear  lest  his  young  ally  should 
take  his  hands  from  the  plough  and  go  the  way  of  all 
men,  and  here  are  the  words  which  Paul  might  have 
written  to  Timothy  :  "  I  hope  you  will  persevere  in 
your  work,  steadily,  but  not  make  too  large  calcula- 


54  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

tions  on  what  may  be  accomplished  in  a  particularly 
stated  time.  You  have  now  girded  on  a  holy  war 
fare.  Lay  not  down  your  weapons  until  honorable 
terms  are  obtained.  The  God  of  hosts  is  on  your  side. 
Steadiness  and  faithfulness  will  most  assuredly  over 
come  every  obstacle."  The  older  apostle  had  yet  to 
learn  that  the  younger  always  did  what  he  undertook 
in  the  field  of  morals  and  philanthropy. 

But  the  scene  had  shifted  from  Boston  to  Benning- 
ton,  and  with  the  young  reformer  goes  also  his  plan 
of  campaign  for  anti-slavery  work.  The  committee 
of  twenty,  now  nineteen  since  his  departure,  slum 
bered  and  slept  in  the  land  of  benevolent  intentions, 
a  practical  illustration  of  Lundy's  pungent  saying, 
that  "  philanthropists  are  the  slowest  creatures  breath 
ing.  They  think  forty  times  before  they  act/'  The 
committee  never  acted,  but  its  one  member  in  Ver 
mont  did  act,  and  that  promptly  and  powerfully  as 
shall  shortly  appear.  Garrison  had  gone  to  Benning- 
ton  to  edit  the  Journal  of  the  Times  in  the  interest  of 
the  reelection  of  John  Quincy  Adams  to  the  Presi 
dency.  For  this  object  he  was  engaged  as  editor  of 
the  paper.  What  he  was  engaged  to  do  he  performed 
faithfully  and  ably,  but  along  with  his  fulfillment  of 
his  contract  with  the  friends  of  Mr.  Adams,  he  car 
ried  the  one  which  he  had  made  with  humanity  like 
wise.  In  his  salutatory  he  outlined  his  intentions  in 
this  regard  thus:  "  We  have  three  objects  in  view, 
which  we  shall  pursue  through  life,  whether  in  this 
place  or  elsewhere — namely,  the  suppression  of  in 
temperance  and  its  associate  vices,  the  gradual  eman 
cipation  of  every  slave  in  the  republic,  and  the  per 
petuity  of  national  peace.  In  discussing  these  topics 


THE   MAN   HEARS   A   VOICE  I    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        55 

what  is  wanting  in  vigor  shall  be  made  up  in  zeal." 
From  the  issue  of  that  first  number  if  the  friends  of 
Adams  had  no  cause  to  complain  of  the  character  of 
his  zeal  and  vigor  in  their  service,  neither  had  the 
friends  of  humanity.  What  he  had  proposed  doing 
in  Massachusetts  as  a  member  of  the  anti-slavery 
committee  of  twenty,  he  performed  with  remarkable 
energy  and  success  in  Vermont.  It  was  to  obtain 
signatures  not  by  the  hundred  to  a  petition  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  but 
by  the  thousands,  and  that  from  all  parts  of  the  State. 
He  sent  copies  of  the  petition  to  every  postmaster  in 
Vermont  with  the  request  that  he  obtain  signatures 
in  his  neighborhood.  Through  his  exertions  a  public 
meeting  of  citizens  of  Bennington  was  held  and  in 
dorsed  the  petition.  The  plan  for  polling  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  of  the  State  worked  admirably. 
The  result  was  a  monster  petition  with  2,352  names 
appended.  This  he  forwarded  to  the  seat  of  Govern 
ment.  It  was  a  powerful  prayer,  but  as  to  its  effect, 
Garrison  had  no  delusions.  He  possessed  even  then 
singularly  clear  ideas  as  to  how  the  South  would  re 
ceive  such  petitions,  and  of  the  course  which  it  would 
pursue  to  discourage  their  presentation.  He  was  no  less 
clear  as  to  how  the  friends  of  freedom  ought  to  carry 
themselves  under  the  circumstances.  In  the  Journal 
of  the  Times  of  November,  1828,  he  thus  expressed 
himself:  "  It  requires  no  spirit  of  prophecy  to  pre 
dict  that  it  (the  petition)  will  create  great  opposition. 
An  attempt  will  be  made  to  frighten  Northern 
'  dough-faces '  as  in  case  of  the  Missouri  question. 
There  will  be  an  abundance  of  furious  declamation, 
menace,  and  taunt.  Are  we,  therefore,  to  approach 


56  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  subject  timidly — with  half  a  heart — as  if  we  were 
treading  on  forbidden  ground  ?  No,  indeed,  but  ear 
nestly,  fearlessly,  as  becomes  men,  who  are  determined 
to  clear  their  country  and  themselves  from  the  guilt 
of  oppressing  God's  free  and  lawful  creatures." 
About  the  same  time  he  began  to  make  his  assaults 
on  the  personal  representatives  of  the  slave-power  in 
Congress,  cauterizing  in  the  first  instance  three 
Northern  "  dough-faces,"  who  had  voted  against  some 
resolutions,  looking  to  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade 
and  slavery  itself  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  So 
while  the  South  thus  early  was  seeking  to  frighten 
the  North  from  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question 
in  Congress,  Garrison  was  unconsciously  preparing 
a  countercheck  by  making  it  dangerous  for  a  North 
ern  man  to  practice  Southern  principles  in  the 
National  Legislature.  He  did  not  mince  his  words, 
but  called  a  spade  a  spade,  and  sin,  sin.  He  per 
ceived  at  once  that  if  he  would  kill  the  sin  of  slave- 
holding,  he  could  not  spare  the  sinner.  And  so  he 
spoke  the  names  of  the  deliquents  from  the  housetop 
of  the  Journal  of  the  Times,  stamping  upon  their 
brows  the  scarlet  letter  of  their  crime  against  liberty. 
He  had  said  in  the  October  before:  "It  is  time  that 
a  voice  of  remonstrance  went  forth  from  the  North, 
that  should  peal  in  the  ears  of  every  slaveholder  like 
a  roar  of  thunder.  .  .  .  For  ourselves,  we  are  resolved 
to  agitate  this  subject  to  the  utmost;  nothing  but 
death  shall  prevent  us  from  denouncing  a  crime  which 
has  no  parallel  in  human  depravity;  we  shall  take 
high  ground.  The  alarm  must  be  perpetual."  A  vpiae 
of  remonstrance,  with  thunder  growl  accompaniment, 
was  rising  higher  and  clearer  from  the  pen  of  the 


THE    MAN    HEARS   A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  f       57 

young  editor.  His  tone  of  earnestness  was  deepening 
to  the  stern  bass  of  the  moral  reformer,  and  the 
storm  breath  of  enthusiasm  was  blowing  to  a  blaze 
the  glowing  coals  of  his  humanity.  The  wail  of 
the  fleeing  fugitive  from  the  house  of  bondage 
sounded  no  longer  far  away  and  unreal  in  his  ears, 
but  thrilled  now  right  under  the  windows  of  his  soul. 
The  masonic  excitement  and  the  commotion  created 
by  the  abduction  of  Morgan  he  caught  up  and  shook 
before  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen  as  an  object  lesson 
of  the  million-times  greater  wrong  daily  done  the 
slaves.  "  All  this  fearful  commotion,"  he  pealed, 
"  has  arisen  from  the  abduction  of  one  man.  More 
than  two  millions  of  unhappy  beings  are  groaning  out 
their  lives  in  bondage,  and  scarcely  a  pulse  quickens, 
or  a  heart  leaps,  or  a  tongue  pleads  in  their  behalf. 
'Tis  a  trifling  affair,  which  concerns  nobody.  Oh! 
for  the  spirit  that  rages,  to  break  every  fetter  of 
oppression  !  "  Such  a  spirit  was  fast  taking  possession 
of  the  writer. 

Of  this  Lundy  was  well  informed.  He  had  not 
lost  sight  of  his  young  coadjutor,  but  had  watched 
his  course  with  great  hope  and  growing  confidence. 
In  him  he  found  what  he  had  discovered  in  no  one 
else,  anti-slavery  activity  and  perseverence.  He  had 
often  found  men  who  protested  loudly  their  benevo 
lence  for  the  negro,  but  who  made  not  the  slightest 
exertion  afterward  to  carry  out  their  good  wishes. 
"  They  will  pen  a  paragraph,  perhaps  an  article,  or 
so — and  then — the  subject  is  exhausted f"  It  was  not  so 
with  his  young  friend,  the  Bennington  editor.  He 
saw  that  "  argument  and  useful  exertion  on  the  sub- 
iect  of  African  emancipation  can  never  be  exhausted 


58  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

until  the  system  of  slavery  itself  be  totally  annihi 
lated."  He  was  faithful  among  the  faithless  found 
by  Lundy.  To  reassure  his  doubting  leader,  Garrison 
took  upon  himself  publicly  a  vow  of  perpetual  con 
secration  to  the  slave.  "Before  God  and  our  country," 
he  declares,  "  we  give  our  pledge  that  the  liberation 
of  the  enslaved  Africans  shall  always  be  uppermost 
in  our  pursuits.  The  people  of  New  England  are 
interested  in  this  matter,  and  they  must  be  aroused 
from  their  lethargy  as  by  a  trumpet-call.  They  shall 
not  quietly  slumber  while  we  have  the  management 
of  a  press,  or  strength  to  hold  a  pen."  The  question 
of  slavery  had  at  length  obtained  the  ascendency 
over  all  other  questions  in  his  regard.  And  when 
Lundy  perceived  this  he  set  out  from  Baltimore  to 
Bennington  to  invite  Garrison  to  join  hands  with 
him  in  his  emancipation  movement  at  Baltimore. 
He  performed  the  long  journey  on  foot,  with  staff  in 
hand  in  true  apostolic  fashion.  The  two  men  of 
God  met  among  the  mountains  of  Vermont,  and 
when  the  elder  returned  from  the  heights  the  younger 
had  resolved  to  follow  him  to  the  vales  where  men 
needed  his  help,  the  utmost  which  he  could  give 
them.  He  agreed  to  join  his  friend  in  Baltimore  and 
there  edit  with  him  his  little  paper  with  the  grand 
name  (The  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation},  devoted 
to  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  gradual  abolishment  of 
American  slavery.  Garrison  was  to  take  the  position 
of  managing  editor,  and  Lundy  to  look  after  the  sub 
scription  list.  The  younger  to  be  resident,  the  elder 
itinerant  partner  in  the  publication  of  the  paper. 
Garrison  closed  his  relations  with  the  Journal  of  the 
Times,  March  27,  1829,  and  delivered  his  valedictory 


THE   MAN    HEARS   A    VOICE  I    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        59 

to  its  readers.  This  valedictory  strikes  with  stern 
hammer-stroke  the  subject  of  his  thoughts.  "  Here 
after,"  it  reads,  "  the  editorial  charge  of  this  paper 
will  devolve  on  another  person.  I  am  invited  to 
occupy  a  broader  field,  and  to  engage  in  a  higher 
enterprise;  that  field  embraces  the  whole  country — 
that  enterprise  is  in  behalf  of  the  slave  popula 
tion." 

"To  my  apprehension,  the  subject  of  slavery 
involves  interests  of  greater  moment  to  our  welfare  as 
a  republic,  and  demands  a  more  prudent  and  minute 
investigation  than  any  other  which  has  come  before 
the  American  people  since  the  Revolutionary  struggle 
— than  all  others  which  now  occupy  their  attention. 
No  body  of  men  on  the  face  of  the  earth  deserve 
their  charities,  and  prayers,  and  united  assistance  so 
much  as  the  slaves  of  this  country;  and  yet  they  are 
almost  entirely  neglected.  It  is  true  many  a  cheek 
burns  with  shame  in  view  of  our  national  incon 
sistency,  and  many  a  heart  bleeds  for  the  miserable 
African.  It  is  true  examples  of  disinterested  benevo 
lence  and  individual  sacrifices  are  numerous,  particu 
larly  in  the  Southern  States;  but  no  systematic, 
vigorous,  and  successful  measures  have  been  made  to 
overthrow  this  fabric  of  oppression.  I  trust  in  God 
that  I  may  be  the  humble  instrument  of  breaking  at 
least  one  chain,  and  restoring  one  captive  to  liberty; 
it  will  amply  repay  a  life  of  severe  toil."  The  causes 
of  temperance  and  peace  came  in  also  for  an  earnest 
parting  word,  but  they  had  clearly  declined  to  a 
place  of  secondary  importance  in  the  writer's  regard. 
To  be  more  exact,  they  had  not  really  declined,  but 
the  slavery  question  had  risen  in  his  mind  above  both. 


60  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

They  were  great  questions,  but  it  was  the  question- 
had  become  his  cause. 

Lundy,  after  his  visit  to  Garrison  at  Bennington, 
started  on  a  trip  to  Hayti  with  twelve  emanci 
pated  slaves,  whom  he  had  undertaken  to  colonize 
there.  Garrison  awaited  in  Boston  the  return  of  his 
partner  to  Baltimore.  The  former,  meanwhile,  was 
out  of  employment,  and  sorely  in  need  of  money. 
Never  had  he  been  favored  with  a  surplusage  of  the 
root  of  all  evil.  He  was  deficient  in  the  money- 
getting  and  money-saving  instinct.  Such  was  plainly 
not  his  vocation,  and  so  it  happened  that  wherever  he 
turned,  he  and  poverty  walked  arm  in  arm,  and  the 
interrogatory,  "  wherewithal  shall  I  be  fed  and 
clothed  on  the  morrow  ? "  was  never  satisfactorily 
answered  until  the  morrow  arrived.  This  led  him  at 
times  into  no  little  embarrassment  and  difficulty.  But 
since  he  was  always  willing  to  work  at  the  case, 
and  to  send  his  "  pride  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca," 
the  embarrassment  was  not  protracted,  nor  did  the 
difficulty  prove  insuperable. 

The  Congregational  societies  of  Boston  invited 
him  in  June  to  deliver  before  them  a  Fourth  of  July 
address  in  the  interest  of  the  Colonization  Society. 
The  exercises  took  place  in  Park  Street  Church.  Ten 
days  before  this  event  he  was  called  upon  to  pay  a 
bill  of  four  dollars  for  failure  to  appear  at  the  May 
muster.  Refusing  to  do  so,  he  was  thereupon  sum 
moned  to  come  into  the  Police  Court  on  the  glorious 
Fourth  to  show  cause  why  he  ought  not  to  pay  the 
amercement.  He  was  in  a  quandary.  He  did  not 
owe  the  money,  but  as  he  could  not  be  in  two  places 
at  the  same  time,  and,  inasmuch  as  he  wanted  very 


THE    MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        6 1 

much  to  deliver  his  address  before  the  Congregational 
Societies,  and  did  not  at  all  long  to  make  the  acquaint 
ance  of  his  honor,  the  Police  Court  Judge,  he 
determined  to  pay  the  fine.  But,  alack  and  alas!  he 
had  "  not  a  farthing  "  with  which  to  discharge  him 
from  his  embarrassment.  Fortunately,  if  he  wanted 
money  he  did  not  want  friends.  And  one  of  these, 
Jacob  Horton,  of  Newburyport,  who  had  married 
his  "  old  friend  and  playmate,  Harriet  Farnham," 
came  to  his  rescue  with  the  requisite  amount. 

On  the  day  and  place  appointed  Garrison  appeared 
before  the  Congregational  Societies  with  an  address, 
to  the  like  of  which,  it  is  safe  to  say,  they  had  never 
before  listened.  It  was  the  Fourth  of  July,  but  the 
orator  was  in  no  holiday  humor.  There  was  not,  in 
a  single  sentence  of  the  oration  the  slightest  en 
deavor  to  be  playful  with  his  audience.  It  was  rather 
an  eruption  of  human  suffering,  and  of  the  humanity 
of  one  man  to  man.  What  the  Boston  clergy  saw 
that  afternoon,  in  the  pulpit  of  Park  Street  Church, 
was  the  vision  of  a  soul  on  fire.  Garrison  burned 
and  blazed  as  the  sun  that  July  afternoon  burned 
and  blazed  in  the  city's  streets.  None  without 
escaped  the  scorching  rays  of  the  latter,  none  within 
was  able  to  shun  the  fervid  heat  of  the  former. 
Those  of  my  readers  who  have  watched  the  effects 
of  the  summer's  sun  on  a  track  of  sandy  land  and 
have  noted  how,  about  midday,  the  heat  seems  to 
rise  in  sparkling  particles  and  exhalations  out  of  the 
hot,  surcharged  surface,  can  form  some  notion  of  the 
moral  fervor  and  passion  of  this  Fourth  of  July  ad 
dress,  delivered  more  than  sixty  years  ago,  in  Boston. 
Through  all  the  pores  of  it,  over  all  the  length  and 


62  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

breadth  of  it,  there  went  up  bright,  burning  particles 
from  the  sunlit  sympathy  and  humanity  of  the  young 
reformer. 

In  beginning,  he  animadverted,  among  other 
things,  on  the  spread  of  intemperance,  of  political 
corruption,  on  the  profligacy  of  the  press,  and,  amid 
them  all,  the  self-complacency  and  boastfulness  of 
the  national  spirit,  as  if  it  bore  a  charmed  life. 

"  But,"  he  continued,  "  there  is  another  evil  which, 
if  we  had  to  contend  against  nothing  else,  should 
make  us  quake  for  the  issue.  It  is  a  gangrene  prey 
ing  upon  our  vitals — an  earthquake  rumbling  under 
our  feet — a  mine  accumulating  material  for  a  national 
catastrophe.  It  should  make  this  a  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer,  not  of  boisterous  merriment  and  idle 
pageantry — a  day  of  great  lamentation,  not  of  con 
gratulatory  joy.  It  should  spike  every  cannon,  and 
haul  down  every  banner.  Our  garb  should  be  sack 
cloth — our  heads  bowed  in  the  dust — our  supplica 
tions  for  the  pardon  and  assistance  of  Heaven. 

"  Sirs,  I  am  not  come  to  tell  you  that  slavery  is  a 
curse,  debasing  in  its  effects,  cruel  in  its  operations, 
fatal  in  its  continuance.  The  day  and  the  occasion 
require  no  such  revelation.  I  do  not  claim  the  dis 
covery  as  my  own,  that  *  all  men  are  born  equal,'  and 
that  among  their  inalienable  rights  are  *  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.'  Were  I  addressing  any 
other  than  a  free  and  Christian  assembly,  the  enforce 
ment  of  this  truth  might  be  pertinent.  Neither  do  I 
intend  to  analyze  the  horrors  of  slavery  for  your 
inspection,  nor  to  freeze  your  blood  with  authentic 
recitals  of  savage  cruelty.  Nor  will  time  allow  me  to 
explore  even  a  furlong  of  that  immense  wilderness  of 


THE    MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !        63 

suffering  which  remains  unsubdued  in  our  land.  I 
take  it  for  granted  that  the  existence  of  these  evils  is 
acknowledged,  if  not  rightly  understood.  My  object 
is  to  define  and  enforce  our  duty,  as  Christians  and 
philanthropists." 

This  was,  by  way  of  exordium,  the  powerful  skir 
mish  line  of  the  address.  Assuming  the  existence  of 
the  evil,  he  advanced  boldly  to  his  theme,  viz.,  the 
duty  of  abolishing  it.  To  this  end  he  laid  down  four 
propositions,  as  a  skillful  general  plants  his  cannon 
on  the  heights  overlooking  and  commanding  his 
enemies'  works.  The  first,  broadly  stated,  asserted 
the  kinship  of  the  slave  to  the  free  population  of  the 
republic.  They  were  men  ;  they  were  natives  of  the 
country;  they  were  in  dire  need.  They  were  igno 
rant,  degraded,  morally  and  socially.  They  were  the 
heathen  at  home,  whose  claims  far  outranked  those 
in  foreign  lands  ;  they  were  higher  than  those  of  the 
"  Turks  or  Chinese,  for  they  have  the  privileges  of 
instruction  ;  higher  than  the  Pagans,  for  they  are  not 
dwellers  in  a  Gospel  land;  higher  than  our  red  men 
of  the  forest,  for  we  do  not  bind  them  with  gyves, 
nor  treat  them  as  chattels." 

Then  he  turned  hotly  upon  the  Church,  exclaiming: 
"What  has  Christianity  done  by  direct  effort  for 
our  slave  population  ?  Comparatively  nothing.  She 
has  explored  the  isles  of  the  ocean  for  objects  of 
commiseration;  but,  amazing  stupidity  !  she  can  gaze 
without  emotion  on  a  multitude  of  miserable  beings 
at  home,  large  enough  to  constitute  a  nation  of  free 
men,  whom,  tyranny  has  heathenized  by  law.  In  her 
public  services  they  are  seldom  remembered,  and  in 
her  private  donations  they  are  forgotten.  From  one 


64  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

end  of  the  country  to  the  other  her  charitable  soci 
eties  form  golden  links  of  benevolence,  and  scatter 
their  contributions  like  rain  drops  over  a  parched 
heath;  but  they  bring  no  sustenance  to  the  perishing 
slave.  The  blood  of  souls  is  upon  her  garments,  yet 
she  heeds  not  the  stain.  The  clanking  of  the  prison 
er's  chains  strike  upon  her  ear,  but  they  cannot  pene 
trate  her  heart." 

Then,  with  holy  wrath  upon  the  nation,  thus  : 
"  Every  Fourth  of  July  our  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  is  produced,  with  a  sublime  indignation,  to 
set  forth  the  tyranny  of  the  mother  country,  and  to 
challenge  the  admiration  of  the  world.  But  what  a 
pitiful  detail  of  grievances  does  this  document  pre 
sent,  in  comparison  with  the  wrongs  which  our  slaves 
endure  ?  In  the  one  case  it  is  hardly  the  plucking  of 
a  hair  from  the  head  ;  in  the  other,  it  is  the  crushing 
of  a  live  body  on  the  wheel — the  stings  of  the  wasp 
contrasted  with  the  tortures  of  the  Inquisition.  Be 
fore  God  I  must  say  that  such  a  glaring  contradic 
tion  as  exists  between  our  creed  and  practice  the 
annals  of  six  thousand  years  cannot  parallel.  In  view 
of  it  I  am  ashamed  of  my  country.  I  am  sick  of  our 
unmeaning  declamation  in  praise  of  liberty  and 
equality;  of  our  hypocritical  cant  about  the  inalien 
able  rights  of  man.  I  would  not  for  my  right  hand 
stand  up  before  a  European  assembly,  and  exult  that 
I  am  an  American  citizen,  and  denounce  the  usurpa 
tions  of  a  kingly  government  as  wicked  and  unjust  ; 
or,  should  I  make  the  attempt,  the  recollection  of  my 
country's  barbarity  and  despotism  would  blister  my 
lips,  and  cover  my  cheeks  with  burning  blushes  of 
shame." 


THE   MAN    HEARS    A    VOICE  :    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !       65 

Passing  to  his  second  proposition,  which  affirmed 
the  right  of  the  free  States  to  be  in  at  the  death  of 
slavery,  he  pointed  out  that  slavery  was  not  sectional 
but  national  in  its  influence.  If  the  consequences  of 
slave-holding  did  not  flow  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
slave  section,  the  right  would  still  exist,  on  the  prin 
ciple  that  what  affected  injuriously  one  part  must 
ultimately  hurt  the  whole  body  politic.  But  it  was 
not  true  that  slavery  concerned  only  the  States  where 
it  existed — the  parts  where  it  did  not  exist  were 
involved  by  their  constitutional  liability  to  be  called 
on  for  aid  in  case  of  a  slave  insurrection,  as  they  were 
in  the  slave  representation  clause  of  the  national  com 
pact,  through  which  the  North  was  deprived  of  its 
"just  influence  in  the  councils  of  the  nation."  And, 
furthermore,  the  right  of  the  free  States  to  agitate 
the  question  inhered  in  the  principle  of  majority  rule 
— the  white  population  of  the  free  States  being  almost 
double  that  of  the  slave  States,  "and  the  voice  of  this 
overwhelming  majority  should  be  potential."  He 
repelled  in  strong  language  the  wrongfulness  of 
allowing  the  South  to  multiply  the  votes  of  those 
freemen  by  the  master's  right  to  count  three  for  every 
five  slaves,  "  because  it  is  absurd  and  anti-republican 
to  suffer  property  to  be  represented  as  men,  and  vice 
versa,  because  it  gives  the  South  an  unjust  ascend 
ancy  over  other  portions  of  territory,  and  a  power 
which  may  be  perverted  on  every  occasion." 

He  looked  without  shrinking  upon  the  possibility 
of  disunion  even  then. 

"  Now  I  say  that,  on  the  broad  system  of  equal 
rights,"  he  declared,  "  this  inequality  should  no 
longer  be  tolerated.  If  it  cannot  be  speedily  put 


66  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

down — not  by  force  but  by  fair  persuasion — if  we  are 
always  to  remain  shackled  by  unjust  constitutional 
provisions,  when  the  emergency  that  imposed  them 
has  long  since  passed  away;  if  we  must  share  in  the 
guilt  and  danger  of  destroying  the  bodies  and  souls 
of  men  as  the  price  of  our  Union  ;  if  the  slave  States 
will  haughtily  spurn  our  assistance,  and  refuse  to  con 
sult  the  general  welfare,  then  the  fault  is  not  ours  if 
a  separation  eventually  takes  place." 

Considering  that  he  was  in  his  twenty-fourth  year, 
and  that  the  Abolition  movement  had  then  no  actual 
existence,  the  orator  evinced  surprising  prescience  in 
his  forecast  of  the  future,  and  of  the  strife  and  hos 
tility  which  the  agitation  was  destined  to  engender. 

"  But  the  plea  is  prevalent,"  he  said,  "  that  any 
interference  by  the  free  States,  however  benevolent 
or  cautious  it  might  be,  would  only  irritate  and 
inflame  the  jealousies  of  the  South,  and  retard  the 
cause  of  emancipation.  If  any  man  believes  that 
slavery  can  be  abolished  without  a  struggle  with  the 
worst  passions  of  human  nature,  quietly,  harmoni 
ously,  he  cherishes  a  delusion.  It  can  never  be  done, 
unless  the  age  of  miracles  returns.  No;  we  must 
expect  a  collision,  full  of  sharp  asperities  and  bitter 
ness.  We  shall  have  to  contend  with  the  insolence, 
and  pride,  and  selfishness  of  many  a  heartless  being. 

"  Sirs,  the  prejudices  of  the  North  are  stronger 
than  those  of  the  South;  they  bristle  like  so  many 
bayonets  around  the  slaves;  they  forge  and  rivet  the 
chains  of  the  nation.  Conquer  them  and  the  victory 
is  won.  The  enemies  of  emancipation  take  courage 
from  our  criminal  timidity.  .  .  .  We  are  . 
afraid  of  our  own  shadows,  who  have  been  driven 


THE   MAN    HEARS   A   VOICE  !    SAMUEL,  SAMUEL  !       67 

back  to  the  wall  again  and  again  ;  who  stand  trem 
bling  under  their  whips ;  who  turn  pale,  retreat, 
and  surrender  at  a  talismanic  threat  to  dissolve  the 
Union.  .  .  ."  But  the  difficulties  did  not  daunt 
him,  nor  the  dangers  cow  him.  He  did  not  doubt, 
but  was  assured,  that  truth  was  mighty  and  would 
prevail.  "  Moral  influence  when  in  vigorous  exer 
cise,"  he  said,  "  is  irresistible.  It  has  an  immortal 
essence.  It  can  no  more  be  trod  out  of  existence  by 
the  iron  foot  of  time,  or  by  the  ponderous  march  of 
iniquity,  than  matter  can  be  annihilated.  It  may  dis 
appear  for  a  time;  but  it  lives  in  some  shape  or  other, 
in  some  place  or  other,  and  will  rise  with  renovated 
strength.  Let  us  then  be  up  and  doing.  In  the 
simple  and  stirring  language  of  the  stout-hearted 
Lundy,  all  the  friends  of  the  cause  must  go  to  work, 
keep  to  work,  hold  on,  and  never  give  up."  The 
closing  paragraph  is  this  powerful  peroration  :  "  I 
will  say,  finally,  that  I  despair  of  the  republic  while 
slavery  exists  therein.  If  I  look  up  to  God  for  sue 
cess,  no  smile  of  mercy  or  forgiveness  dispels  the 
gloom  of  futurity;  if  to  our  own  resources,  they  are 
daily  diminishing;  if  to  all  history  our  destruction  is 
not  only  possible  but  almost  certain.  Why  should 
we  slumber  at  this  momentous  crisis  ?  If  our  hearts 
were  dead  to  every  thought  of  humanity;  if  it  were 
lawful  to  oppress,  where  power  is  ample;  still,  if  we 
had  any  regard  for  our  safety  and  happiness,  we 
should  strive  to  crush  the  vampire  which  is  feeding 
upon  our  life-blood.  All  the  selfishness  of  our  nature 
cries  aloud  for  a  better  security.  Our  own  vices  are 
too  strong  for  us,  and  keep  us  in  perpetual  alarm; 
how,  in  addition  to  these,  shall  we  be  able  to  contend 


68  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

successfully  with  millions  of  armed  and  desperate 
men,  as  we  must,  eventually,  if  slavery  do  not  cease  ?  " 
Exit  the  apprentice,  enter  the  master.  The  period  of 
preparation  is  ended,  the  time  of  action  begun.  The 
address  was  the  fiery  cry  of  the  young  prophet  ere 
he  plunged  into  the  unsubdued  wilderness  of 
American  slavery. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY. 

Some  time  in  August,  1829,  Garrison  landed  in  Bal 
timore,  and  began  with  Lundy  the  editorship  of 
The  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation.  Radical  as  the 
Park  Street  Church  address  was,  it  had,  nevertheless, 
ceased  to  represent  in  one  essential  matter  his  anti 
slavery  convictions  and  principles.  The  moral  im 
petus  and  ground-swell  of  the  address  had  carried 
him  beyond  the  position  where  its  first  flood  of  feel 
ing  had  for  the  moment  left  him.  During  the  com 
position  of  the  address  he  was  transported  with  grief 
and  indignation  at  the  monstrous  wrong  which 
slavery  did  the  slaves  and  the  nation.  He  had  not 
thought  out  for  himself  any  means  to  rid  both  of  the 
curse.  The  white  heat  of  the  address  destroyed  for 
the  instant  all  capacity  for  such  thinking.  "  Who  can 
be  amazed,  temperate,  and  furious — in  a  moment  ? 
No  man.  The  expedition  of  his  violent  love  outran 
the  pauser  reason  "  He  had  accepted  the  coloniza 
tion  scheme  as  an  instrument  for  removing  the  evil, 
and  called  on  all  good  citizens  "  to  assist  in  estab 
lishing  auxiliary  colonization  societies  in  every  State, 
county,  and  town  "  ;  and  implored  "  their  direct  and 
liberal  patronage  to  the  parent  society."  He  had  not 
apparently,  so  much  as  dreamed  of  any  other  than 
gradual  emancipation.  "  The  emancipation  of  all 

(69) 


70  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  slaves  of  this  generation  is  most  assuredly  out  of 
the  question,"  he  said  ;  "  the  fabric  which  now  towers 
above  the  Alps,  must  be  taken  away  brick  by  brick, 
and  foot  by  foot,  till  it  is  reduced  so  low  that  it  may 
be  overturned  without  burying  the  nation  in  its 
ruins.  Years  may  elapse  before  the  completion  of 
of  the  achievement ;  generations  of  blacks  may  go 
down  to  the  grave,  manacled  and  lacerated,  without 
a  hope  for  their  children."  He  was  on  the  Fourth  of 
July  a  firm  and  earnest  believer  in  the  equity  and 
efficacy  of  gradualism.  But  after  that  day,  and  some 
time  before  nis  departure  for  Baltimore,  he  began  to 
think  on  this  subject.  The  more  he  thought  the  less 
did  gradualism  seem  defensible  on  moral  grounds. 
John  Wesley  had  said  that  slavery  was  the  "sum  of 
all  villainies  "  ;  it  was  indeed  the  sin  of  sins,  and  as 
such  ought  to  be  abandoned  not  gradually  but  im 
mediately.  Slave-holding  was  sin  and  slaveholders 
were  sinners.  The  sin  and  sinner  should  both  be  de 
nounced  as  such  and  the  latter  called  to  instant  re 
pentance,  and  the  duty  of  making  immediate  restitu 
tion  of  the  stolen  liberties  of  their  slaves.  This  was 
the  tone  ministers  of  religion  held  every  where  toward 
sin  and  sinners,  and  this  should  be  the  tone  held  by 
the  preachers  of  Abolition  toward  slavery,  and  slave 
holders.  To  admit  the  principle  of  gradualism  was  for 
Abolition  to  emasculate  itself  of  its  most  virile  qual 
ity.  Garrison,  consequently  rejected  gradualism  as 
a  weapon,  and  took  up  instead  the  great  and  quicken 
ing  doctrine  of  immediatism.  Lundy  did  not  know 
of  this  change  in  the  convictions  of  his  coadjutor 
until  his  arrival  in  Baltimore.  Then  Garrison  frankly 
unburdened  himself  and  declared  his  decision  to  con- 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  71 

duct  his  campaign  against  the  national  iniquity  along 
the  lines  of  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipa 
tion.  The  two  on  this  new  radicalism  did  not  see 
eye  to  eye.  But  Lundy  with  sententious  shrewdness 
and  liberality  suggested  to  the  young  radical:  "  Thee 
may  put  thy  initials  to  thy  articles  and  I  will  put  my 
initials  to  mine,  and  each  will  bear  his  own  burden." 
And  the  arrangement  pleased  the  young  radical,  for 
it  enabled  him  to  free  his  soul  of  the  necessity  which 
was  then  sitting  heavily  upon  it.  The  precise  state 
of  his  mind  in  respect  of  the  question  at  this  juncture 
in  its  history  and  in  his  own  is  made  plain  enough  in 
his  salutatory  address  in  The  Genius  of  Universal 
Emancipation.  The  vow  made  in  Bennington  ten 
months  before  to  devote  his  life  to  philanthrophy, 
and  the  dedication  of  himself  made  six  months  after 
ward  to  the  extirpation  of  American  slavery,  he 
solemnly  renews  and  reseals  in  Baltimore.  He  does 
not  hate  intemperance  and  war  less,  but  slavery  more, 
and  those,  therefore,  he  formally  relegates  thenceforth 
to  a  place  of  secondary  importance  in  the  endeavors 
of  the  future.  It  is  obvious  that  the  colonization 
scheme  has  no  strong  hold  upon  his  intelligence.  He 
does  not  conceal  his  respect  for  it  as  an  instrument 
of  freedom,  but  he  puts  no  high  value  on  its  utility. 
"  It  may  pluck  a  few  leaves,"  he  remarks,  "  from  the 
Bohon  Upas,  but  can  neither  extract  its  roots  nor 
destroy  its  withering  properties.  Viewed  as  an  aux 
iliary,  it  deserves  encouragement  ;  but  as  a  remedy 
it  is  altogether  inadequate."  But  this  was  not  all. 
As  a  remedy,  colonization  was  not  only  altogether  in 
adequate,  its  influence  was  indirectly  pernicious,  in 
that  it  lulled  the  popular  mind  into  "a  belief  that 


72  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  monster  has  received  his  mortal  wound."  He 
perceived  that  this  resultant  indifference  and  apathy 
operated  to  the  advantage  of  slavery,  and  to  the  in 
jury  of  freedom.  Small,  therefore,  as  was  the  good 
which  the  Colonization  Society  was  able  to  achieve,  it 
was  mixed  with  no  little  ill.  Although  Garrison  has 
not  yet  begun  to  think  on  the  subject,  to  examine  into 
the  motives  and  purposes  of  the  society,  it  does  not 
take  a  prophet  to  foresee  that  some  day  he  will.  He 
had  already  arrived  at  conclusions  in  respect  of  the 
rights  of  the  colored  people  "to  choose  their  own 
dwelling  place,"  and  against  the  iniquity  of  their  ex 
patriation,  which  cut  directly  at  the  roots  of  the 
colonization  scheme.  Later  the  pro-slavery  character 
of  the  society  will  be  wholly  revealed  to  him.  But 
truth  in  the  breast  of  a  reformer  as  of  others  must 
needs  follow  the  great  law  of  moral  growth,  first  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  and  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear. 
It  is  enough  that  he  has  made  the  tremendous  step 
from  gradual  to  immediate  and  unconditional  eman 
cipation  on  the  soil. 

At  this  period  he  tested  the  disposition  of  slave 
holders  to  manumit  their  slaves.  The  Colonization 
Society  had  given  it  out  that  there  was  no  little 
desire  on  the  part  of  many  masters  to  set  their  slaves 
free.  All  that  was  wanted  for  a  practical  domonsta- 
tion  in  this  direction  was  the  assurance  of  free 
transportation  out  of  the  country  for  the  emanci 
pated  slaves.  Lundy  had  made  arrangement  for  the 
transportation  of  fifty  slaves  to  Hayti  and  their 
settlement  in  that  country.  So  he  and  Garrison 
advertised  this  fact  in  the  Genius,  but  they  waited  in 
vain  for  a  favorable  response  from  the  South — notwith- 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  73 

standing  the  following  humane  inducement  which  this 
advertisement  offered:  "  THE  PRICE  OF  PASSAGE  WILL  BE 
ADVANCED,  and  everything  furnished  of  which  they 
may  stand  in  need,  until  they  shall  have  time  to  pre 
pare  their  houses  and  set  in  to  work."  No  master 
was  moved  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity. 
This  was  discouraging  to  the  believers  in  the  efficacy 
of  colonization  as  a  potent  anti-slavery  instrument. 
But  Garrison  was  no  such  believer.  With  unerring 
moral  instinct  he  had  from  the  start  placed  his 
reliance  "  on  nothing  but  the  eternal  principles  of 
justice  for  the  speedy  overthrow  of  slavery." 

He  obtained  at  this  period  an  intimate  personal 
knowledge  of  the  free  colored  people.  He  saw  that 
they  were  not  essentially  unlike  other  races — that 
there  was  nothing  morally  or  intellectually  peculiar 
about  them,  and  that  the  evil  or  the  good  which  they 
manifested  was  the  common  property  of  mankind  in 
similar  circumstances.  He  forthwith  became  their 
brave  defender  against  the  common  slanders  of  the 
times.  "  There  is  a  prevalent  disposition  among  all 
classes  to  traduce  the  habits  and  morals  of  our  free 
blacks,"  he  remarked  in  the  Genius.  "  The  most 
scandalous  exaggerations  in  regard  to  their  condi 
tion  are  circulated  by  a  thousand  mischievous 
tongues,  and  no  reproach  seems  to  them  too  deep  or 
unmerited.  Vile  and  malignant  indeed  is  this  prac 
tice,  and  culpable  are  they  who  follow  it.  We  do 
not  pretend  to  say  that  crime,  intemperance,  and 
suffering,  to  a  considerable  extent,  cannot  be  found 
among  the  free  blacks;  but  we  do  assert  that  they  are 
as  moral,  peaceable,  and  industrious  as  that  class  of 
the  whites  who  are,  like  them,  in  indigent  circum- 


74  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

stances — and  far  less  intemperate  than  the  great 
body  of  foreign  immigrants  who  infest  and  corrupt 
our  shores."  This  idea  of  the  natural  equality  of  the 
races  he  presented  in  the  Genius  a  few  weeks  before 
with  Darwinian  breadth  in  the  following  admirable 
sentences  :  "  I  deny  the  postulate  that  God  has  made, 
by  an  irreversible  decree,  or  any  inherent  qualities, 
one  portion  of  the  human  race  superior  to  another. 
No  matter  how  many  breeds  are  amalgamated — no 
matter  how  many  shades  of  color  intervene  between 
tribes  or  nations  give  them  the  same  chances  to 
improve,  and  a  fair  start  at  the  same  time,  and  the 
result  will  be  equally  brilliant,  equally  productive, 
equally  grand." 

At  the  same  time  that  he  was  making  active,  per 
sonal  acquaintance  with  the  free  colored  people,  he 
was  making  actual  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
barbarism  of  slavery  also.  "  The  distinct  applica 
tion  of  a  whip,  and  the  shrieks  of  anguish  "  of  the 
slave,  his  residence  in  Baltimore  had  taught  him  was 
"  nothing  uncommon  "  in  that  city.  Such  an  instance 
had  come  to  him  while  in  the  street  where  the  office 
of  the  Genius  was  located.  It  was  what  was  occur- 
ing  at  almost  all  hours  of  the  day  and  in  almost  all 
parts  of  the  town.  He  had  not  been  in  Baltimore 
a  month  when  he  saw  a  specimen  of  the  brutality  of 
slavery  on  the  person  of  a  negro,  who  had  been  merci 
lessly  flogged.  On  his  back  were  thirty-seven  gashes 
made  with  a  cowskin,  while  on  his  head  were  many 
bruises  besides.  It  was  a  Sunday  morning,  fresh 
from  his  terrible  punishment,  that  the  poor  fellow 
had  found  the  editors  of  the  Genius,  who,  with  the 
compassion  of  brothers,  took  him  in,  dressed  his 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS   MINISTRY.  75 

wounds,  and  cared  for  him  for  two  days.  Such  an 
experience  was  no  new  horror  to  Lundy,  but  it  was 
doubtless  Garrison's  first  lesson  in  that  line,  and  it 
sank  many  fathoms  deep  into  his  heart. 

Maryland  was  one  of  the  slave-breeding  States  and 
Baltimore  a  slave  emporium.  There  was  enacted  the 
whole  business  of  slavery  as  a  commercial  enterprise. 
Here  the  human  chattels  were  brought  and  here 
warehoused  in  jails  and  other  places  of  storage  and 
detention.  Here  they  were  put  up  at  public  auction, 
and  knocked  down  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  from 
here  they  were  shipped  to  New  Orleans,  the  great 
distributing  center  for  such  merchandise.  He  heard 
what  Lundy  had  years  before  heard,  the  wail  of 
captive  mothers  and  fathers,  wives,  husbands  and 
children,  torn  from  each  other ;  like  Lundy,  "  he 
felt  their  pang  of  distress  ;  and  the  iron  entered  his 
soul."  He  could  not  hold  his  peace  in  the  midst  of 
such  abominations,  but  boldly  exposed  and  denounced 
them.  His  indignation  grew  hot  when  he  saw  that 
Northern  vessels  were  largely  engaged  in  the  coast 
wise  slave-trade  ;  and  when,  to  his  amazement,  he 
learned  that  the  ship  Francis,  owned  by  Francis 
Todd,  a  Newburyport  merchant,  had  sailed  for  New 
Orleans  with  a  gang  of  seventy-five  slaves,  his  indig 
nation  burst  into  blaze.  He  blazoned  the  act  and 
the  name  of  Francis  Todd  in  the  Genius,  and  did 
verily  what  he  had  resolved  to  do,  viz.,  "  to  cover  with 
thick  infamy  all  who  were  concerned  in  this  nefari 
ous  business,"  the  captain  as  well  as  the  owner  of  the 
ill-freighted  ship.  He  did  literally  point  at  these 
men  the  finger  of  scorn.  Every  device  known  to  the 
printer's  art  for  concentrating  the  reader's  attention 


76  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

upon  particular  words  and  sentences,  Garrison  made 
skillful  use  of  in  his  articles — from  the  deep  damna 
tion  of  the  heavy  black  capitals  in  which  he  printed 
the  name  Francis  Todd,  to  the  small  caps  in  which 
appeared  the  words,  "  sentenced  to  solitary  confine 
ment  for  life, "and  which  he  flanked  with  two  terrible 
indices.  But  the  articles  did  not  need  such  embel 
lishment.  They  were  red  hot  branding  irons  without 
them.  One  can  almost  smell  the  odor  of  burning 
flesh  as  he  reads  the  words :  "  It  is  no  worse  to  fit 
out  piratical  cruisers  or  to  engage  in  the  foreign 
slave-trade,  than  to  pursue  a  similar  trade  along  our 
coast  ;  and  the  men  who  have  the  wickedness  to  par 
ticipate  therein,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  up  wealth 
should  be  (J3|r"  SENTENCED  TO  SOLITARY  CONFINEMENT 
FOR  LIFE  ;  ^Jgl  they  are  the  enemies  of  their  own  species 
— highway  robbers,  and  murderers;  and  their  final 
doom  will  be,  unless  they  speedily  repent,  to  occupy 
the  lowest  depths  of  perdition.  I  know  that  our  laws 
make  a  distinction  in  this  matter.  I  know  that  the 
man  who  is  allowed  to  freight  his  vessel  with  slaves 
at  home,  for  a  distant  market,  would  be  thought 
worthy  of  death  if  he  should  take  a  similar  freight 
on  the  coast  of  Africa  ;  but  I  know,  too,  that  this 
distinction  is  absurd,  and  at  war  with  the  common 
sense  of  mankind,  and  that  God  and  good  men  regard 
it  with  abhorrence. 

"  I  recollect  that  it  was  always  a  mystery  in  New- 
buryport  how  Mr.  Todd  contrived  to  make  profitable 
voyages  to  New  Orleans  and  other  places,  when  other 
merchants,  with  as  fair  an  opportunity  to  make 
money,  and  sending  to  the  same  ports  at  the  same 
time  invariably  made  fewer  successful  speculations. 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  77 

The  mystery  seems  to  be  unravelled.  Any  man  can 
gather  up  riches  if  he  does  not  care  by  what  means 
they  are  obtained." 

A  copy  of  the  Genius,  containing  this  article  Garri 
son  sent  to  the  owner  of  the  ship  Francis.  What  fol 
lowed  made  it  immediately  manifest  that  the  brand 
ing  irons  of  the  reformer  had  burned  home  with  scar 
ifying  effect.  Mr.  Todd's  answer  to  the  strictures 
was  a  suit  at  law  against  the  editors  of  the  Genius  for 
five  thousand  dollars  in  damages.  But  this  was  not 
all.  The  Grand  Jury  for  Baltimore  indicted  them  for 
publishing  "a  gross  and  malicious  libel  against 
Francis  Todd  and  Nicholas  Brown."  This  was  at  the 
February  Term,  1830.  On  the  first  day  of  March  fol 
lowing,  Garrison  was  tried.  He  was  ably  and  elo 
quently  defended  by  Charles  Mitchell,  a  young  law 
yer  of  the  Baltimore  Bar.  But  the  prejudice  of  judge 
and  jury  rendered  the  verdict  of  guilty  a  foregone 
conclusion.  April  17,  1830,  the  Court  imposed  a  pen 
alty  of  fifty  dollars  and  costs,  which,  with  the  fine 
amounted  in  all  to  nearly  one  hundred  dollars.  The 
fine  and  costs  Garrison  could  not  pay,  and  he  was 
therefore  committed  to  jail  as  a  common  rrialefactor. 
His  confinement  lasted  seven  weeks.  He  did  not 
languish  during  this  period.  His  head  and  hands 
were  in  fact  hardly  ever  more  active  than  during  the 
term  of  his  imprisonment.  Shut  out  by  Maryland 
justice  from  work  without  the  jail,  he  found  and  did 
that  which  needed  to  be  done  within  "  high  walls  and 
huge."  He  was  an  extraordinary  prisoner  and  was 
treated  with  extraordinary  consideration  by  the  War 
den.  He  proved  himself  a  genuine  evangel  to  the 
prisoners,  visiting  them  in  their  cells,  cheering  them 


78  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

by  his  bouyant  and  benevolent  words,  giving  them 
what  he  had,  a  brother's  sympathy,  which  to  these  ill- 
fated  ones,  was  more  than  gold  or  silver.  He  indited 
for  such  of  them  as  he  deemed  deserving,  letters  and 
petitions  to  the  Governor  praying  their  pardon  ;  and 
he  had  the  great  satisfaction  of  seeing  many  of  his 
efforts  in  this  regard  crowned  with  success. 

But  more  than  this  his  imprisonment  afforded  him 
an  opportunity  for  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the 
barbarism  of  slavery  than  he  could  possibly  have 
made  had  he  lived  otherwise  in  Baltimore.  A  South 
ern  jail  was  not  only  the  place  of  detention  of 
offenders  against  social  justice,  but  of  slaves  waiting 
for  the  next  market-day,  of  recaptured  fugitives  wait 
ing  for  their  owners  to  reclaim  them.  Here  they  were 
huddled  and  caged,  pitiful  and  despairing  in  their 
misery.  Such  scenes  sickened  the  young  reformer 
every  day.  God  had  opened  to  him  the  darkest  chap 
ter  in  the  book  of  the  negroes'  wrongs.  Here  is  a  page 
from  that  black  volume  of  oppression  and  cruelty,  the 
record  of  which  he  has  preserved  in  the  following 
graphic  narrative  :  "  During  my  late  incarceration 
in  Baltimore  prison,  four  men  came  to  obtain  a  run 
away  slave.  He  was  brought  out  of  his  cell  to  con 
front  his  master,  but  pretended  not  to  know  him— 
did  not  know  that  he  had  ever  seen  him  before — could 
not  recollect  his  name.  Of  course  the  master  was 
exceedingly  irritated.  '  Don't  you  remember,'  said 
he,  *  when  I  gave  you  not  long  since  thirty-nine  lashes 
under  the  apple-tree?  Another  time  when  I  gave  you 
a  sound  flogging  in  the  barn  ?  Another  time  when 
you  was  scourged  for  giving  me  the  lie,  by  saying 
that  the  horse  was  in  a  good  condition?'  'Yes,' 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS   MINISTRY.  79 

replied  the  slave,  whose  memory  was  thus  quickened, 
'I  do  recollect.  You  have  beaten  me  cruelly  without 
cause  ;  you  have  not  given  me  enough  to  eat 
and  drink  ;  and  I  don't  want  to  go  back  again. 
I  wish  you  to  sell  me  to  another  master.  I 
had  rather  even  go  to  Georgia  than  to  return 
home  !' 

"'I'll  let  you  know,  you  villain,'  said  the  master, 
1  that  my  wishes  and  not  yours,  are  to  be  consulted. 
I'll  learn  you  how  to  run  away  again.'  ' 

The  other  men  advised  him  to  take  the  black 
home,  and  cut  him  up  in  inch  pieces  for  his  impu 
dence,  obstinacy,  and  desertion — swearing  tremen 
dously  all  the  while.  The  slave  was  ordered  back  to 
his  cell.  Then  ensued  the  following  colloquy  between 
Garrison  and  the  master: 

G. — "  Sir,  what  right  have  you  to  that  poor  crea 
ture?" 

M.— "  My  father  left  him  to  me." 

G. — "  Suppose  your  father  had  broken  into  a  bank 
and  stolen  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  safely  be 
queathed  that  as  a  legacy;  could  you  conscientiously 
keep  the  money  ?  For  myself,  I  had  rather  rob 
any  bank  to  an  indefinite  amount  than  kidnap  a 
fellow-being,  or  hold  him  in  bondage  ;  the  sin  would 
be  less  injurious  to  society,  and  less  sinful  in  the 
sight  of  God." 

M. — "  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  buy  the  slave 
and  give  him  his  liberty  ?  " 

G. — "Sir,  I  am  a  poor  man;  and  were  I  ever  so 
opulent,  it  would  be  necessary,  on  your  part,  to  make 
out  a  clear  title  to  the  services  of  the  slave  before  I 
could  conscientiously  make  a  bargaia" 


8o  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

M — "Well,  sir,  I  can  prove  from  the  Bible  that 
slavery  is  right." 

G. — "Ah!  that  is  a  precious  book — the  rule  of  con 
duct.  I  have  always  supposed  that  its  spirit  was 
directly  opposed  to  everything  in  the  shape  of  fraud 
and  oppression.  However,  sir,  I  should  be  glad  to 
hear  your  text." 

M.  (hesitatingly)  —  "Ham  —  Noah's  curse,  you 
know." 

G.  (hastily) — "  Oh,  sir,  you  build  on  a  very  slender 
foundation.  Granting  even — what  remains  to  be 
proved — that  the  Africans  are  the  descendants  of 
Ham,  Noah's  curse  was  a  prediction  of  future  servi 
tude,  and  not  an  injunction  to  oppress.  Pray,  sir,  is 
it  a  careful  desire  to  fulfill  the  Scriptures,  or  to  make 
money,  that  induces  you  to  hold  your  fellow-men  in 
bondage  ?  " 

M.  (excitedly) — "Why,  sir,  do  you  really  think  that 
the  slaves  are  beings  like  ourselves  ? — that  is,  I  mean 
do  you  believe  that  they  possess  the  same  faculties 
and  capacities  as  the  whites  ?  " 

G.  (energetically) — "  Certainly,  sir,  I  do  not  know 
that  there  is  any  moral  or  intellectual  quality  in  the 
curl  of  the  hair,  or  the  color  of  the  skin.  I  cannot 
conceive  why  a  black  man  may  not  as  reasonably  ob 
ject  to  my  color,  as  I  to  his.  Sir,  it  is  not  a  black 
face  that  I  detest,  but  a  black  heart — and  I  find  it 
very  often  under  a  white  skin." 

M.  (derisively) — "Well,  sir,  how  should  you  like  to 
see  a  black  man  President  of  the  United  States  ? " 

G.  (severely) — "  As  to  that,  sir,  I  am  a  true  Repub 
lican,  and  bow  to  the  will  of  the  majority.  If  the 
people  prefer  a  black  President,  I  should  cheerfully 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  8l 

submit ;  and  if  he  be  qualified  for  the  station,  may 
peradventure  give  him  my  vote." 

M.  (triumphantly) — "  How  should  you  like  to  have 
a  black  man  marry  your  daughter  ?  " 

G.  (making  a  home  thrust  and  an  end  of  the  dia 
logue) — "  I  am  not  married — I  have  no  daughter. 
Sir,  I  am  not  familiar  with  your  practices  ;  but  allow 
me  to  say,  that  slaveholders  generally  should  be  the 
last  persons  to  affect  fastidiousness  on  that  point ;  for 
they  seem  to  be  enamored  with  amalgamation'' 

Garrison's  pen  was  particularly  busy  during  the 
term  of  his  imprisonment.  He  paid  his  respects  to 
the  State's  Attorney  who  prosecuted  him,  to  the  judge 
who  condemned  him,  and  to  Francis  Todd,  the  owner 
of  the  ship  Francis.  He  prepared  and  scattered 
broadcast  a  true  account  of  his  trial,  showing  how 
the  liberty  of  the  press  had  been  violated  in  the  case. 
He  did  not  doubt  that  it  would  astonish  Europe  if  it 
were  known  there  "  that  an  American  citizen  lies  in 
carcerated  in  prison,  for  having  denounced  slavery  and 
its  abettors  in  his  own  country."  The  fact  created  no 
little  astonishment  in  America.  Slavery  became  dis 
tinctly  connected  for  the  first  time  with  abridgments 
of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  the  right  of  free 
speech.  And  the  cause  of  the  slave  became  involved 
with  the  Constitutional  liberties  of  the  republic.  In 
punishing  Garrison,  the  Abolitionist,  the  rights  of 
Garrison  the  white  freeman  were  trampled  on.  And 
white  freemen  in  the  North,  who  cared  nothing  for 
Abolitionism,  but  a  great  deal  for  their  right  to  speak 
and  write  freely,  resented  the  outrage.  This  fact  was 
the  most  important  consequence,  which  flowed  from 
the  trial  and  imprisonment  of  the  young  editor  of 


82  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

The  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation.  u  As  the  news 
of  my  imprisonment  became  extensively  known,"  he 
wrote,  "  and  the  merits  of  the  case  understood,  not  a 
mail  rolled  into  the  city  but  it  brought  me  con- 
solatary  letters  from  individuals  hitherto  unknown  to 
me,  and  periodicals  of  all  kinds  from  every  section 
of  the  Union  (not  even  excepting  the  South),  all 
uniting  to  give  me  a  triumphant  acquittal — all 
severely  reprehending  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Todd— 
and  all  regarding  my  trial  as  a  mockery  of  justice." 
This  unexpected  result  was  one  of  those  accidents  of 
history,  which  "  have  laws  as  fixed  as  planets  have." 
The  prosecution  and  imprisonment  of  Garrison 
was  without  doubt  designed  to  terrorize  him  into 
silence  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  But  his  persecutors 
had  reckoned  without  a  knowledge  of  their  victim. 
Garrison  had  the  martyr's  temperament  and  invinci 
bility  of  purpose.  His  earnestness  burned  the  more 
intensely  with  the  growth  of  opposition  and  peril. 
Within  "gloomy  walls  close  pent,"  he  warbled  gay 
as  a  bird  of  a  freedom  which  tyrants  could  not  touch, 
nor  bolts  confine: 

"  No  chains  can  bind  it,  and  no  cell  enclose, 
Swifter  than  light,  it  flies  from  pole  to  pole, 
And  in  a  flash  from  earth  to  heaven  it  goes  !  " 

or  with  deep,  stern  gladness  sang  he  to  "  The  Guiltless 
Prisoner"  how: 

"  A  martyr's  crown  is  richer  than  a  king's ! 

Think  it  an  honor  with  thy  Lord  to  bleed, 

And  glory  'midst  intensest  sufferings ; 

Though  beat — imprisoned — put  to  open  shame 

Time  shall  embalm  and  magnify  thy  name." 

"Is  it  supposed  by  Judge  Brice,"  the  guiltless  pris- 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  83 

oner  wrote  from  his  cell,  "  that  his  frowns  can  intimi 
date  me,  or  his  sentence  stifle  my  voice  on  the  sub 
ject  of  African  oppression?  He  .does  not  know  me. 
So  long  as  a  good  Providence  gives  me  strength  and 
intellect,  I  will  not  cease  to  declare  that  the  existence 
of  slavery  in  this  country  is  a  foul  reproach  to  the 
American  name  ;  nor  will  I  hesitate  to  proclaim  the 
guilt  of  kidnappers,  slave  abettors,  or  slaveowners, 
wheresoever  they  may  reside,  or  however  high 
they  may  be  exalted.  I  am  only  in  the  alphabet 
of  my  task  ;  time  shall  perfect  a  useful  work. 
It  is  my  shame  that  I  have  done  so  little  for  the 
people  of  color;  yea,  before  God,  I  feel  humbled 
that  my  feelings  are  so  cold,  and  my  language 
so  weak.  A  few  white  victims  must  be  sacri 
ficed  to  open  the  eyes  of  this  nation,  and  to  show 
the  tyranny  of  our  laws.  I  expect  and  am  willing  to 
be  persecuted,  imprisoned,  and  bound  for  advocating 
African  rights  ;  and  I  should  deserve  to  be  a  slave 
myself  if  I  shrunk  from  that  duty  or  danger."  The 
story  of  the  trial  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  from 
which  the  above  brave  words  are  taken,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  that  noble  man  and  munificent  merchant, 
Arthur  Tappan,  of  New  York.  From  the  reading  of 
it  he  rose  "  with  that  deep  feeling  of  abhorrence  of 
slavery  and  its  abettors  which  every  one  must  feel 
who  is  capable  of  appreciating  the  blessings  of 
liberty,"  and  thereupon  notified  Lundy  to  draw  upon 
him  for  one  hundred  dollars  if  that  amount  would 
give  the  young  editor  his  liberty.  The  fine  and  costs 
of  court  were  accordingly  paid  and  just  forty-nine 
days  after  entering  Baltimore  jail  a  prisoner,  Garrison 
recovered  his  freedom.  The  civil  action  of  Todd 


84  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

against  him  was  still  pending.  Nothing  daunted 
Garrison  went  North  two  days  after  his  discharge  to 
obtain  certain  evidence  deemed  important  by  his 
counsel  to  his  defence.  He  took  with  him  an  open 
letter  from  Lundy  looking  to  the  renewal  of  the 
the  weekly  Genius  under  their  joint  control.  Prior 
to  Garrison's  trial  the  paper  had  fallen  into  great 
stress  for  want  of  money.  Lundy  and  he  had  made 
a  division  of  their  labors,  the  latter  doing  the  editor 
ial  and  office  work,  while  the  former  traveled  from 
place  to  place  soliciting  subscriptions  and  collecting 
generally  the  sinews  of  war.  But  the  experiment 
was  not  successful  from  a  business  standpoint.  For 
as  Garrison  playfully  observed  subsequently  : 
"Where  friend  Lundy  could  get  one  new  subscriber, 
I  could  knock  a  dozen  off,  and  I  did  so.  It  was  the 
old  experiment  of  the  frog  in  the  well,  that  went  two 
feet  up  and  fell  three  feet  back,  at  every  jump." 
Where  the  income  of  the  paper  did  not  exceed  fifty 
dollars  in  four  months  and  the  weekly  expenditure 
amounted  to  at  least  that  sum,  the  financial  failure  of 
the  enterprise  was  inevitable.  This  unhappy  event 
did  actually  occur  six  weeks  before  the  junior  editor 
went  to  jail  ;  and  the  partnership  was  formally  dis 
solved  in  the  issue  of  the  Genius  of  March  5,  1830. 
But  when  Arthur  Tappan  made  his  generous  offer  of 
a  hundred  dollars  to  effect  Garrison's  release,  he 
made  at  the  same  time  an  offer  of  an  equal  amount 
to  aid  the  editors  in  reestablishing  the  Genius.  This 
proposition  led  to  hopes  on  the  part  of  the  two 
friends  to  a  renewal  of  their  partnership  in  the  cause 
of  emancipation.  And  so  Garrison's  visit  to  the 
North  was  taken  advantage  of  to  test  the  disposition 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  85 

of  Northern  philanthropy  to  support  such  a  paper. 
But  what  he  found  was  a  sad  lack  of  interest  in  the 
slave.  Everywhere  he  went  he  encountered  what 
appeared  to  him  to  be  the  most  monstrous  indifference 
and  apathy  on  the  subject.  The  prejudices  of  the  free 
States  seemed  to  him  stronger  than  were  those  of 
the  South.  Instead  of  receiving  aid  and  encourage 
ment  to  continue  the  good  work  of  himself  and  coad- 
iutor,  and  for  the  doing  of  which  he  had  served  a  term 
of  seven  weeks  in  prison,  men,  even  his  best  friends 
sought  to  influence  him  to  give  it  up,  and  to  persuade 
him  to  forsake  the  slave,  and  to  turn  his  time  and 
talents  to  safer  and  more  profitable  enterprises  nearer 
home.  He  was  informed  by  these  worldly  wise  men 
and  Job's  counselors  that  his  "  scheme  was  visionary, 
fanatical,  unattainable."  "Why  should  he  make 
himself,"  they  argued,  "an  exile  from  home  and  all 
that  be  held  dear  on  earth,  and  sojourn  in  a  strange 
land,  among  enemies  whose  hearts  were  dead  to  every 
noble  sentiment?"  Ah!  he  himself  confessed  that  all 
were  against  his  return  to  Baltimore.  But  his  love 
of  the  slave  was  stronger  than  the  strength  of  the 
temptation.  He  put  all  these  selfish  objections  behind 
him.  As  he  has  recorded  the  result  of  this  experience  : 
"  Opposition  served  only  to  increase  my  ardor,  and 
confirm  my  purpose."  Strange  and  incomprehensible 
to  his  fellows  is  the  man  who  prefers  "  persecution, 
reproach,  and  poverty "  with  duty,  to  worldly  ease 
and  honor  and  riches  without  it.  When  a  man 
appears  in  society  who  is  not  controlled  by  motives 
which  usually  govern  the  conduct  of  other  men  he 
becomes  at  first  an  object  of  pity,  then  of  contempt, 
and,  lastly,  of  hate.  Garrison  we  may  be  sure  at  the 


86  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

end  of  this  visit  had  made  rapid  transit  from  the  first 
to  the  second  of  these  stages  in  the  esteem  of  his 
generation. 

His  experience  was  not  all  of  this  deplorable  kind. 
He  left  Baltimore  without  the  money  required  to  pay 
his  way  North,  depending  literally  upon  the  good 
God  to  provide  for  him  the  necessary  means  to  com 
plete  his  journey.  And  such  help  was  more  than 
once  providentially  afforded  the  young  apostle  of  lib 
erty.  At  New  York,  when  he  did  not  know  how  he 
was  to  go  farther  for  want  of  means,  he  met  a  Mr. 
Samuel  Leggett  who  gave  him  a  pass  on  the  "  splendid 
steamboat  President.'"  It  seems  that  this  friend  in  his 
need  had  read  with  indignation  the  story  of  his  trial. 
The  bread  which  he  had  scattered  from  his  prison  on 
the  waters  of  public  sentiment  had  thus  returned  to 
him  after  many  days  in  the  timely  assistance  of  a 
sympathetic  soul.  And  then,  again,  when  he  was  in 
Boston  in  sore  distress  for  a  little  money,  suddenly, 
beautifully,  the  desire  of  his  heart  was  satisfied.  But 
let  him  tell  the  incident  in  his  own  touching  way. 
His  face  was  turned  toward  Baltimore  :  "  But  how 
was  I  to  return?"  he  asks.  "I  had  not  a  dollar  in 
my  pocket,  and  my  time  was  expired.  No  one  under 
stood  my  circumstances.  I  was  too  proud  to  beg,  and 
ashamed  to  borrow.  My  friends  were  prodigal  of 
pity,  but  of  nothing  else.  In  the  extremity  of  my 
uneasiness,  I  went  to  the  Boston  post-office,  and  found 
a  letter  from  my  friend  Lundy,  inclosing  a  draft  for 
$100  from  a  stranger  and  as  a  remuneration  for  my 
poor  inefficient  services  in  behalf  of  the  slaves  !"  The 
munificent  stranger  was  Ebenezer  Dole,  of  Hallowell, 
Maine.  Money  thus  acquired  was  a  sacred  trust  to 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  87 

this  child  of  Providence.  "  After  deducting  the 
expenses  of  traveling,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  the 
remainder  of  the  above-named  sum  was  applied 
in  discharging  a  few  of  the  debts  incurred  by  the 
unproductiveness  of  the  Genius" 

Garrison  returned  to  Baltimore,  but  he  did  not 
tarry  long  in  that  slave-ruled  city.  Todd's  suit 
against  him  was  tried  after  his  departure,  and  the 
jury  soothed  the  Newburyport  merchant's  wounded 
pride  with  a  verdict  for  a  thousand  dollars.  He  never 
attempted,  however,  to  enforce  the  payment  of  the 
same  being  content  probably  with  the  "vindication," 
which  his  legal  victory  gave  him. 

Before  the  reformer  left  Baltimore  he  had  definitely 
abandoned  the  plans  looking  to  a  revival  of  his  inter 
est  in  the  Genius.  He  determined  instead  to  publish 
a  sheet  devoted  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  under  his 
sole  management  and  control.  This  paper  he  pro 
posed  to  call  the  Public  Liberator,  and  to  issue  from 
Washington.  The  prospectus  of  this  journalistic 
project  bearing  date,  August,  1830,  declares  in  its 
opening  sentence  its  "  primary  object "  to  be  "  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  and  the  moral  and  intellectual 
elevation  of  our  colored  population."  "  I  shall  spare 
no  efforts,"  he  pledged  himself,  "  to  delineate  the 
withering  influence  of  slavery  upon  our  national 
prosperity  and  happiness,  its  awful  impiety,  its  rapid 
extension,  and  its  inevitable  consequences  if  it  be 
suffered  to  exist  without  hindrance.  It  will  also  be 
my  purpose  to  point  out  the  path  of  safety,  and  a 
remedy  for  the  disease."  This  comprehensive  and 
aggressive  plan  of  campaign  signalized  the  rise  of  an 
Abolitionism  wholly  unlike  the  Abolitionism  of  any 


88  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

previous  time  in  the  history  of  the  country.  It  did 
in  fact  date  the  opening  of  a  new  era  in  the  slavery 
struggle  in  America. 

With  Northern  indifference  and  apathy  on  the  sub 
ject  of  emancipation,  Garrison's  previous  visit  to  the 
North  had  acquainted  him.  Their  existence  he  saw 
interposed  the  main  obstacle  to  the  success  of  his 
new  venture  in  journalism.  "  The  cause  of  this  cal 
lous  state  of  feeling,"  he  believed,  "  was  owing  to 
their  exceeding  ignorance  of  the  horrors  of  slavery." 
He  accordingly  made  up  his  mind  to  throw  the  light 
which  he  possessed  into  the  midst  of  this  darkness.  He 
had  written  in  prison  three  lectures  on  "  Slavery  and 
Colonization."  What  better  could  he  now  do  than  to 
deliver  those  lectures  at  the  North?  If  the  good  people 
and  their  religious  leaders  knew  what  he  knew,  they 
would  presently  feel  as  he  did  on  the  question.  He  was 
loath  to  leave  Baltimore  without  giving  this  testi 
mony  against  slavery.  But  unable  to  procure  a  room 
for  this  purpose  was  finally  compelled  to  content  him 
self  with  the  witness  he  had  already  borne  in  the 
Genius  and  in  prison  in  behalf  of  the  slave.  In  Phila 
delphia  he  well-nigh  failed  to  obtain  a  hall  for  his 
lectures,  but  did  finally  succeed  in  getting  the  Frank 
lin  Institute,  where,  to  small  audiences,  he  lifted  up 
his  voice  against  the  iniquity  of  the  times.  He  re 
peated  his  lectures  in  New  York,  New  Haven,  and 
Hartford.  But  not  many  came  out  to  hear  him. 
The  nation,  its  churches,  and  politicians  had  thrust 
their  fingers  in  their  ears  to  every  cry  coming  up 
from  the  slave.  Why  should  they  go  to  sup  with  a 
madman  on  horrors,  with  which  as  patriotic  people 
they  were  forbidden  to  concern  themselves.  And  so 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  89 

for  the  most  part  Garrison  could  do  nothing  with 
communities,  which  had  eyes,  but  obstinately  refused 
to  see  with  them  upon  any  subject  relating  to  the 
abominations  of  slavery.  In  his  own  town  of  New- 
buryport,  officers  of  Christian  churches  not  only  re 
fused  to  hear  his  message  themselves,  but  debarred 
others  from  listening  to  the  woes  and  wrongs  of  fel 
low-creatures  in  bondage.  As  Mr.  Garrison  truly 
said  at  the  time  :  "  If  I  had  visited  Newburyport  to 
plead  the  cause  of  twenty  white  men  in  chains,  every 
hall  and  every  meeting-house  would  have  been 
thrown  open,  and  the  fervor  of  my  discourses  antici 
pated  and  exceeded  by  my  fellow-townsmen.  The 
fact  that  two  millions  of  colored  beings  are  groaning 
in  bondage,  in  this  land  of  liberty,  excites  no  interest 
nor  pity."  If  these  damning  facts  are  remembered 
sixty  years  after  their  occurrence  to  the  shame  of 
the  trustees  of  the  two  churches,  viz.,  the  Presbyterian 
Church  on  Harris  street  and  the  Second  Congrega 
tional  Church,  it  is  also  remembered  to  the  honor  of 
the  two  pastors,  Rev.  Dr.  Daniel  Dana,  and  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Luther  F.  Dimmick,  that  they  had  thrown  open 
to  the  prophet  the  doors  of  their  meeting-houses, 
which  the  trustees  afterward  slammed  in  his  face. 

In  Boston  the  same  hard  luck  followed  him.  In 
all  that  city  of  Christian  churches  he  could  not  ob 
tain  the  use  of  a  single  meeting-house,  "in  which  to 
vindicate  the  rights  of  TWO  MILLIONS  of  Ameri 
can  citizens,  who  are  now  groaning  in  servile  chains 
in  this  boasted  land  of  liberty  ;  and  also  to 
propose  just,  benevolent,  and  constitutional  meas 
ures  for  their  relief."  So  ran  an  advertisement 
in  the  Boston  Courier  of  the  sorely  tried  soul.  For 


90  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

two  weeks  he  had  gone  up  and  down  the  town  in 
search  of  a  room  free  of  cost,  in  which  to  deliver  his 
message.  The  door  of  every  sanctuary  was  locked 
against  his  cause.  It  was  then,  as  a  final  recourse, 
that  he  turned  to  the  Courier,  and  made  his  last  ap 
peal  to  the  Christian  charity  of  the  city.  The  prayer 
of  the  prophet  was  answered  from  an  unexpected 
quarter.  It  was  that  ecclesiastical  dragon  of  the 
times,  Abner  Kneeland,  and  his  society  of  "  blas 
phemers,"  who  proved  afresh  the  truth  of  that 
scripture  which  says  :  "  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto 
me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  It  was  they  that  gave  to  liberty 
a  hearing,  to  the  prophet  of  righteousness  a  chance 
to  deliver  his  message.  It  was  in  their  meeting 
house,  in  Julian  Hall,  that  Garrison  gave  his  lectures, 
giving  the  first  one  on  the  evening  of  October  15, 
1830. 

Samuel  J.  May,  who  was  present,  has  preserved  his 
impressions  of  the  lecture  and  lecturer.  "  Never 
before,"  he  records  many  years  afterward,  "  was  I  so 
affected  by  the  speech  of  man.  When  he  had  ceased 
speaking  I  said  to  those  around  me  :  '  That  is  a 
providential  man  ;  he  is  a  prophet  ;  he  will  shake 
our  nation  to  its  center,  but  he  will  shake  slavery  out 
of  it.  We  ought  to  know  him,  we  ought  to  help 
him.  Come,  let  us  go  and  give  him  our  hands.'  Mr. 
Sewall  and  Mr.  Alcott  went  up  with  me  and  we 
introduced  each  other.  I  said  to  him,  *  Mr.  Garrison, 
I  am  not  sure  that  I  can  indorse  all  you  have  said 
this  evening.  Much  of  it  requires  careful  considera 
tion.  But  I  am  prepared  to  embrace  you.  I  am 


THE    MAN    BEGINS    HIS    MINISTRY.  91 

sure  you  are  called  to  a  great  work,  and  I  mean  to 
help  you.'  Mr.  Sewall  cordially  assured  him  of  his 
readiness  also  to  cooperate  with  him.  Mr.  Alcott 
invited  him  to  his  home.  He  went  and  we  sat  with 
him  until  twelve  that  night,  listening  to  his  discourse, 
in  which  he  showed  plainly  that  immediate,  uncondi 
tional  emancipation,  without  expatriation,  was  the  right  of 
every  slave,  and  could  not  be  withheld  by  his  master  an 
hour  without  sin.  That  night  my  soul  was  baptised 
in  his  spirit,  and  ever  since  I  have  been  a  disciple  and 
fellow-laborer  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison."  A  new 
force  had  arisen  in  our  history,  and  a  new  epoch 
had  broken  bolts  for  humanity. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    HOUR   AND    THE    MAN. 

THE  providential  man  was  not  yet  twenty-five.  In 
personal  appearance  he  was  quite  the  reverse  of  his 
friend  Lundy.  Garrison  was  gifted  with  a  body 
that  matched  his  mind,  strong,  straight,  sound  in 
every  part,  and  proportioned  in  every  member.  As 
he  stood  he  was  much  above  the  medium  height. 
His  dark  hair  had  already  partially  left  the  crown  of 
the  high  dome-shaped  head.  His  forehead  com 
bined  height  with  breadth,  which,  taken  in  connec 
tion  with  the  brown  eyes  covered  with  the  now 
habitual  glasses,  lent  to  his  countenance  a  striking 
air  of  moral  serenity  and  elevation.  Force,  firm 
ness,  no  ordinary  self-reliance  and  courage  found 
masterly  expression  in  the  rest  of  the  face.  There 
was  through  the  whole  physical  man  a  nice  blending 
of  strength  and  delicacy  of  structure.  The  impres 
sion  of  fineness  and  finish  was  perhaps  mainly  owing 
to  the  woman-like  purity  and  freshness  of  skin  and 
color,  which  overspread  the  virile  lines  and  features 
of  the  face  from  brow  to  chin.  What  one  saw  in  that 
face  was  the  quality  of  justice  made  flesh,  good-will 
to  men  personified. 

This  characterization  of  the  reformer's  counte 
nance  may  be  considered  absurd  by  some  readers. 
But  absurd  it  is  not.  People  who  had  read  his  stern 

(9=0 


THE    HOUR   AND    THE    MAN.  93 

denunciations  of  slave-holding  and  slaveholders,  and 
who  had  formed  their  image  of  the  man  from  his 
"  hard  language  "  and  their  own  prejudices  could  not 
recognize  the  original  when  they  met  him.  His  man 
ner  was  peculiarly  winning  and  attractive,  and  in 
personal  intercourse  almost  instantly  disarmed  hos 
tility.  The  even  gentleness  of  his  rich  voice,  his  un 
failing  courtesy  and  good  temper,  his  quick  eye  for 
harmless  pleasantries,  his  hearty  laugh,  the  Quaker- 
like  calmness,  deliberateness,  and  meekness,  with 
which  he  would  meet  objections  and  argue  the  right 
eousness  of  his  cause,  his  sweet  reasonableness  and 
companionableness  were  in  strange  contrast  to  popu 
lar  misconceptions  and  caricatures  of  him.  No  one 
needed  to  be  persuaded,  who  had  once  conversed 
with  him,  that  there  was  no  hatred  or  vindictiveness 
in  his  severities  of  language  toward  slaveholders. 
That  he  was  no  Jacobin,  no  enemy  of  society,  was 
perceived  the  moment  one  looked  into  his  grave, 
kind  face,  or  caught  the  warm  accents  of  his  pacific 
tones,  or  listened  to  the  sedate  intensity,  and  human 
ity  of  his  discourses  on  the  enormity  of  American 
slavery  as  they  fell  from  him  in  conversations  between 
man  and  man.  Here  is  a  case  in  point,  a  typical  in 
cident  in  the  life  of  the  reformer  ;  it  occurred,  it  is 
true,  when  he  was  twenty-seven,  but  it  might  have 
occurred  at  twenty-five  quite  as  well  ;  it  is  narrated 
by  Samuel  J.  May  in  his  recollections  of  the  anti- 
slavery  conflict  :  On  his  way  from  New  York  to 
Philadelphia  with  Garrison,  Mr.  May  fell  into  a  dis 
cussion  with  a  pro-slavery  passenger  on  the  vexed 
question  of  the  day.  There  was  the  common  pro- 
slavery  reasoning,  which  May  answered  as  well  as  he 


94  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

was  able.  Presently  Mr.  Garrison  drew  near  the  dis 
putants,  whereupon  May  took  the  opportunity  to 
shift  the  anti-slavery  burden  of  the  contention  to  his 
leader's  shoulders.  All  of  his  most  radical  and  un 
popular  Abolition  doctrines  Garrison  immediately 
proceeded  to  expound  to  his  opponent.  "  After  a 
long  conversation,"  says  Mr.  May,  "  which  attracted 
as  many  as  could  get  within  hearing,  the  gentleman 
said,  courteously  :  '  I  have  been  much  interested,  sir, 
in  what  you  have  said,  and  in  the  exceedingly  frank 
and  temperate  manner  in  which  you  have  treated  the 
subject.  If  all  Abolitionists  were  like  you,  there  would 
be  much  less  opposition  to  your  enterprise.  But,  sir, 
depend  upon  it,  that  hair-brained,  reckless,  violent 
fanatic,  Garrison,  will  damage,  if  he  does  not  ship 
wreck,  any  cause.'  Stepping  forward,  I  replied,  *  Allow 
me,  sir,  to  introduce  you  to  Mr.  Garrison,  of  whom 
you  entertain  so  bad  an  opinion.  The  gentleman 
you  have  been  talking  with  is  he.'  " 

Or  take  Harriet  Martineau's  first  impressions  on 
seeing  him.  "  His  aspect  put  to  flight  in  an  instant 
what  prejudices  his  slanderers  had  raised  in  me.  I 
was  wholly  taken  by  surprise.  It  was  a  countenance 
glowing  with  health,  and  wholly  expressive  of  purity, 
animation  and  gentleness.  I  did  not  wonder  at  the 
citizen  who,  seeing  a  print  of  Garrison  at  a  shop  win 
dow  without  a  name  to  it,  went  in  and  bought  it,  and 
framed  it  as  the  most  saintlike  of  countenances." 

The  appearance  of  such  a  man  on  the  stage  of  our 
history  as  a  nation,  at  this  hour,  was  providential. 
His  coming  was  in  the  fulness  of  time.  A  rapid  re 
view  of  events  anterior  to  the  advent  of  Garrison  will 
serve  to  place  this  matter  more  clearly  before  the 


THE    HOUR    AND    THE    MAN.  95 

general  reader.  To  begin,  then,  at  the  beginning  we 
have  two  ships  off  the  American  coast,  the  one  casting 
anchor  in  Plymouth  harbor,  the  other  discharging  its 
cargo  at  Jamestown.  They  were  both  freighted  with 
human  souls.  But  how  different  !  Despotism  landed 
at  Jamestown,  democracy  at  Plymouth.  Here  in  the 
germ  was  the  Southern  idea,  slave  labor,  slave  institu 
tions  ;  and  here  also  was  the  Northern  idea,  free  labor, 
free  institutions.  Once  planted  they  grew,  each  seed 
idea  multiplying  after  its  kind.  In  course  of  time 
there  arose  on  one  side  an  industrial  system  in  which 
the  plantation  principle,  race-rule  and  race-slavery, 
were  organic  centers  ;  and,  on  the  other,  a  social 
system  in  which  the  principle  of  popular  power  and 
government,  the  town  meeting,  and  the  common  school 
were  the  ganglia  of  social  expansion.  Contrary  ideas 
beget  naturally  enough  contrary  interests  and  insti 
tutions.  So  it  is  no  matter  for  surprise  that  the  local 
interests  and  institutions  of  the  thirteen  revolted 
colonies  lacked  homogeneity  and  identity.  What 
was  calculated  to  promote  the  general  welfare  of  the 
Northern  one,  it  was  quite  possible  might  work  a 
totally  opposite  result  in  the  Southern.  For,  indeed, 
while  there  were  slaves  in  them  all,  the  slave  system 
had  taken  root  in  Southern  soil  only  ;  and  while  on 
the  other  hand  the  spirit  of  freedom  was  existent  in 
each,  free  labor  had  rooted  itself  in  Northern  ground 
solely. 

As  the  war  of  the  Revolution  was  an  uprising 
against  arbitrary  power,  and  for  the  establishment  of 
political  liberty,  it  pushed  easily  into  the  foreground 
the  larger  subject  of  human  rights.  Most  of  the 
leading  actors  felt  the  inconsistency  of  keeping  some 


96  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

men  in  bondage,  when  they  were  fighting  to  rid  them 
selves  of  a  tyranny  which,  in  comparison  to  the  other, 
was  a  state  of  honorable  freedom.  Their  humanity 
condemned  African  slavery,  and  they  earnestly  de 
sired  its  extinction.  The  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  proves  to  how  high  a  level  the  tide  of  freedom  rose 
in  the  colonies.  The  grand  truths  by  it  proclaimed 
the  signers  of  that  instrument  did  not  restrict  in  their 
application  to  some  men  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
men.  They  wrote  "  All  men/'  and  they  meant  ex 
actly  what  they  wrote.  Too  simply  honest  and  great 
they  were  to  mean  less  than  their  solemn  and  deliber 
ate  words. 

On  political  as  well  as  on  moral  grounds  they  de 
sired  emancipation.  But  there  was  a  difficulty  which 
at  the  time  proved  insuperable.  The  nation-making 
principle,  the  idea  of  country,  was  just  emerging  out 
of  the  nebulous  civil  conditions  and  relations  of  the 
ante-Revolutionary  epoch.  There  was  no  existent 
central  authority  to  reach  the  evil  within  the  States 
except  the  local  governments  of  the  States  respect 
ively.  And  States  in  revolt  against  the  central  au 
thority  of  the  mother  country  v/ould  hardly  be  dis 
posed  to  divest  themselves  of  any  part  of  their  newly 
asserted  right  to  govern  themselves  for  the  purpose 
of  conferring  the  same  upon  any  other  political  body. 
To  each  State,  then,  the  question  was  necessarily  left 
for  settlement. 

The  war,  during  its  continuance,  absorbed  the 
united  resources  and  energies  of  the  people  and  their 
leaders.  The  anti-slavery  movement  made  accord 
ingly  but  small  progress.  Reforms  thrive  only  when 
they  get  a  hearing.  Public  attention  is  the  food  on 


THE    HOUR    AND    THE    MAN.  97 

which  they  thrive.  But  precious  little  of  this  food 
was  the  Abolition  cause  able  to  snatch  in  those  bitter 
years.  It  could  not  grow.  It  remained  in  the  gristle 
— hardly  more  than  a  sentiment.  But  the  sentiment 
was  a  seed,  the  promise  and  potency  of  kindlier  times. 
With  the  close  of  the  long  struggle  other  questions 
arose;  got  the  people's  ears;  fixed  the  attention  of  the 
leaders.  Scant  notice  could  emancipation  extort  from 
men  who  had  to  repair  the  ravages  of  an  exhausting 
war,  reconstruct  shattered  fortunes,  restore  civil  soci- 
ciety  in  parts  tumbling  into  ruinous  disorder.  The 
instinct  of  self-preservation  was  altogether  too  mas 
terful  for  the  moral  starveling.  It  succumbed  to  cir 
cumstances,  content  to  obtain  an  occasional  sermon, 
an  annual  address,  a  few  scattered  societies  to  keep  a 
human  glow  in  the  bosom  of  the  infant  Confederacy. 
The  Confederation  failed.  The  formation  of  a 
more  perfect  union  was  demanded  and  undertaken. 
This  transcendent  task  straightway  thrust  into  the 
background  every  other  enterprise  and  interest.  The 
feeble  activity  of  the  freedom-making  principle  was 
checked,  for  the  time  being,  by  the  energy  of  the 
nation-making  power.  They  were  not  antagonistic 
forces — only  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  the  earli 
est  stages  in  the  evolution  of  the  former  had  to  come 
after  the  first  steps  were  taken  in  the  development  of 
the  latter.  Before  there  could  start  a  general  move 
ment  against  American  slavery  there  must  needs  be 
an  American  nation.  An  American  nation  was,  in 
the  year  1787,  in  process  of  successful  development. 
With  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the  national 
principle  entered  on  a  period  of  marvelous  expan 
sion  and  activity. 


98  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Let  it  not,  however,  be  hastily  concluded  that  free 
dom  meanwhile  was  in  total  eclipse,  that  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  was  absolutely  without  influence. 
For  it  unquestionably  inspired  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 
The  Northwest  Territory,  out  of  which  were  subse 
quently  organized  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illin 
ois,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin,  was  thereby,  forever 
secured  to  the  Northern  idea,  and  free  labor.  Sup 
plementary  to  this  grand  act  was  the  Constitutional 
prohibition  of  the  African  slave-trade  after  the  year 
1808.  Together  they  were  intended  to  discourage 
the  growth  of  slavery — the  first  by  restricting  its  ter 
ritorial  extension,  the  second,  by  arresting  its  numer 
ical  increase.  And  without  doubt  they  would  have 
placed  the  evil  in  the  way  of  ultimate  extinction  had 
other  and  far  reaching  causes  not  intervened  to  pro 
duce  adverse  social  and  political  conditions. 

The  first  of  these  causes,  in  point  of  time,  were  cer 
tain  labor-saving  inventions  in  England,  which  vastly 
enhanced  the  demand  for  raw  cotton.  Arkwright's 
invention  of  the  spinning  machine  about  twenty  years 
prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  perfected 
by  the  spinning-jenny  of  Hargreaves,  and  the  mule 
of  Crompton,  "turned  Lancashire,"  the  historian 
Green  says,  "  into  a  hive  of  industry."  The  then  rapid 
demand  for  cotton  operated  in  time  as  a  stimulus 
to  its  production  in  America.  Increased  produc 
tivity  raised  the  value  of  slave  property  and  slave 
soil.  But  the  slow  and  tedious  hand  method  of  sep 
arating  the  fiber  of  the  cotton  bulb  from  the  seed 
greatly  limited  the  ability  of  the  Cotton  States  to 
meet  and  satisfy  the  fast  growing  demand  of  the 
English  manufacturers,  until  Eli  Whitney,  in  1793,  by 


THE    HOUR    AND    THE    MAN.  99 

an  ingenious  invention  solved  the  problem  of  supply 
for  these  States.  The  cotton  gin  was  not  long  in 
proving  itself  the  other  half — the  other  hand  of  the 
spinning  machine. 

From  that  year  the  slave  interests  of  the  South 
rose  in  market  value,  and  its  industrial  system 
assumed  unexpected  importance  in  the  economic 
world.  The  increased  production  of  cotton  led 
directly  to  increased  demand  for  slave  labor  and 
slave  soil.  The  increased  demand  for  slave  labor  the 
Constitutional  provision  relating  to  the  African  slave 
trade  operated  in  part  to  satisfy.  The  increased 
demand  for  slave  soil  was  likewise  satisfied  by  the 
cession  to  the  United  States  by  Georgia  and  North 
Carolina  of  the  Southwest  Territory,  with  provisos 
practically  securing  it  to  slavery.  Out  of  this  new 
national  territory  were  subsequently  carved  the  slave 
States  of  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama. 

Slave  soil  unlike  free  soil,  is  incapable  of  sustain 
ing  a  dense  population.  Slave  labor  calls  for  large 
spaces  within  which  to  multiply  and  prosper.  The 
purchase  of  Louisiana  and  the  acquisition  of  Florida 
met  this  agrarian  necessity  on  the  part  of  the  South. 
Immense,  unsettled  areas  thus  fell  to  the  lot  of  the 
slave  system  at  the  crisis  of  its  material  expansion  and 
prosperity.  The  domestic  slave-trade  under  the  im 
petus  of  settling  these  vast  regions  according  to  the 
plantation  principle,  became  an  enormous  and  spread 
ing  industry.  The  crop  of  slaves  was  not  less  profit 
able  than  the  crop  of  cotton.  A  Southern  white 
man  had  but  to  buy  a  score  of  slaves  and  a  few  hun 
dred  acres  to  get  "  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of  avar 
ice."  So  at  least  calculated  the  average  Southern  man. 


100  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

This  revival  of  slavery  disappointed  the  humane 
expectation  of  its  decline  and  ultimate  extinction 
entertained  by  the  founders  of  the  republic.  It  built 
up  instead  a  growing  and  formidable  slave  class,  and 
interest  in  the  Union.  With  the  rise  of  giant  slave 
interests,  there  followed  the  rise  of  a  power  devoted 
to  their  encouragement  and  protection. 

Three  far-reaching  concessions  the  slave  States 
obtained  in  the  convention  of  1787,  viz.,  the  right  to 
import  slaves  from  Africa  until  1808  ;  the  rendition 
of  fugitive  slaves  escaping  into  the  free  States,  and 
the  three-fifths  slave  representation  clause  of  the 
Constitution — all  of  which  added  vastly  to  the 
security  and  value  of  this  species  of  property,  and 
as  a  consequence  contributed  to  the  slave  revival. 

The  equality  of  the  States  in  the  upper  branch  of 
the  National  Legislature,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
right  of  the  slave  States  to  count  five  slaves  as  three 
freemen  in  the  apportionment  of  representatives  to 
the  lower  House  of  Congress,  gave  the  Southern  sec 
tion  an  almost  immediate  ascendency  in  the  Federal 
Government.  To  the  South  was  thus  opened  by  an 
unexpected  combination  of  circumstances  a  wide 
avenue  for  the  acquisition  of  fabulous  wealth,  and  to 
Southern  public  men  an  incomparable  arena  for  the 
exercise  of  political  abilities  and  leadership.  An 
institution,  which  thus  ministered  to  two  of  the 
strongest  passions  of  mankind — avarice  and  ambi 
tion — was  certain  to  excite  the  most  intense  attach 
ment.  Its  safety  naturally,  therefore,  became  among 
the  slave  class  an  object  of  prime  importance. 
Southern  jealousy  in  this  regard  ultimated  inevitably 
in  Southern  narrowness,  Southern  sectionalism,  which 


THE    HOUR    AND    T^rfE   MCAtf."  IOI 

early  manifested  themselves  in  the  exclusion  from 
lead  in  national  affairs  of  Northern  public  men, 
reputed  to  be  unfriendly  to  slavery.  Webster  as  late 
as  1830,  protested  warmly  against  this  intolerance. 
Like  begets  like.  And  the  proscribing  of  anti-slavery 
politicians  by  the  South,  created  in  turn  not  a  little 
sectional  feeling  at  the  North,  and  helped  to  stimu 
late  there  a  consciousness  of  sectional  differences,  of 
antagonism  of  interests  between  the  two  halves  of 
the  Union. 

Discontent  with  the  original  basis  of  the  Union, 
which  had  given  the  South  its  political  coign  of 
vantage,  broke  out  first  in  New  England.  The  occa 
sion,  though  not  the  cause,  of  this  discontent  was, 
perhaps,  the  downfall  of  the  Federal  party,  whose 
stronghold  was  in  the  East.  The  commercial  and 
industrial  crisis  brought  on  by  the  embargo,  and 
which  beggared,  on  the  authority  of  Webster,  "  thou 
sands  of  families  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  indi 
viduals  "  fanned  this  Eastern  dissatisfaction  into 
almost  open  disaffection  towards  a  government  dom 
inated  by  Southern  influence,  and  directed  by  South 
ern  statesmanship.  To  the  preponderance  of  this 
Southern  element  in  national  legislation  New  Eng 
land  traced  her  misfortunes.  She  was  opposed  to 
the  War  of  1812,  but  was  overruled  to  her  hurt  by 
the  South.  In  these  circumstances  New  England 
went  for  correcting  the  inequalities  of  the  original 
basis  of  the  Union,  which  gave  to  the  South  its 
undue  preponderance  in  shaping  national  laws  and 
policies.  This  was  the  purpose  of  the  Hartford 
Convention,  which  proposed  the  abrogation  of  the 
slave  representation  clause  of  the  Constitution,  and 


102  WrULIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  imposition  of  a  check  upon  the  admission  of  new 
States  into  the  Union.  The  second  proposition  did 
not  say  "  new  slave  States,"  but  new  slave  States  was, 
nevertheless,  intended  by  the  Convention.  Here  in 
point  of  time  and  magnitude,  was  the  first  distinct 
collision  of  the  two  sets  of  ideas  and  interests  of  the 
Republic. 

Following  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  other  and  imperious 
questions  engaged  the  public  attention — questions  of 
the  tariff,  of  finance,  internal  improvements,  national 
defence,  a  new  navy,  forts  and  fortifications.  Hard 
times,  too,  engrossed  an  enormous  share  of  this  atten 
tion.  The  immediate  needs  and  problems  of  the 
hour  pushed  into  the  background  all  less  pressing 
ones.  The  slavery  question  amidst  the  clamor  and 
babel  of  emergent  and  material  interests,  lost  some 
thing  of  its  sectional  heat  and  character.  But  its 
fires  were  not  extinguished,  only  banked  as  events 
were  speedily  to  reveal. 

The  application  of  Missouri  for  admission  into  the 
Union  as  a  slave  State  four  years  after  the  Hartford 
Convention  blew  to  a  blaze  the  covered  embers  of 
strife  between  the  sections.  The  North  was  violently 
agitated.  For  the  admission  of  a  new  slave  State 
meant  two  more  slave  votes  in  the  Senate,  and  an 
increase  on  the  old  inequitable  basis  of  slave  repre 
sentation  in  the  lower  House  of  Congress.  It  meant 
to  the  Northern  section  indefinite  Southern  ascend 
ency,  prolonged  Southern  lead  in  national  legislation. 
All  the  smouldering  passions  of  the  earlier  period,  of 
embargo,  and  non-intercourse,  and  the  war  of  1812, 
flamed  suddenly  and  fiercely  in  the  heart  of  the  free 
States. 


THE    HOUR    AND    THE    MAN.  IOJ 

The  length  and  bitterness  of  that  controversy  ex 
cited  the  gravest  apprehensions  for  the  stability  of 
the  Union.  The  dread  of  disunion  led  to  mutual 
concessions,  to  the  Missouri  Compromise.  The  slave- 
holding  section  got  its  immediate  claim  allowed,  and 
the  free  States  secured  the  erection  of  a  line  to  the 
north  of  which  slavery  was  forever  prohibited.  And 
besides  this,  the  admission  of  Maine  was  supposed  to 
neutralize  whatever  political  advantages,  which  would 
accrue  to  the  South  from  the  admission  of  Missouri 
as  a  slave  State.  Both  sections  were  content,  and  the 
slavery  question  was  thought  to  be  permanently 
settled.  With  this  final  disposition  of  an  ugly  prob 
lem,  the  peace  and  permanence  of  the  Union  were 
viewed  universally  as  fixed  facts.  Still,  considering 
the  gravity  of  the  case,  a  little  precaution  would  not 
go  amiss.  The  slavery  question  had  shaken  men's 
faith  in  the  durability  of  the  republic.  It  was  there 
fore  adjudged  a  highly  dangerous  subject.  The  polit 
ical  physicians  with  one  accord  prescribed  on  the 
ounce-of-prevention  principle,  quiet,  SILENCE,  and 
OBLIVION,  to  be  administered  in  large  and  increas 
ing  doses  to  both  sections.  Mum  was  the  word,  and 
mum  the  country  solemnly  and  suddenly  became 
from  Maine  to  Georgia.  But,  alas!  beneath  the  ashes 
of  this  Missouri  business,  deep  below  the  unnatural 
silence  and  quiet,  inextinguishable  fires  were  burning 
and  working  again  to  the  surface  of  politics.  In  such 
circumstances  a  fresh  outbreak  of  old  animosities 
must  occur  as  soon  as  the  subterranean  heat  should 
reach  the  point  of  highest  combustibility  in  the 
federal  system.  The  tariff  proved  to  be  that  point  of 
highest  combustibility, 


IO4  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Alexander  Hamilton  inaugurated  the  policy  of 
giving  governmental  aid  to  infant  manufactures.  The 
wisdom  of  diversifying  the  industries  of  the  young 
nation  was  acquiesced  in  by  the  leading  statesmen  of 
both  sections.  Beset  as  the  republic  then  was  by 
international  forces  hostile  to  democratic  institutions, 
it  was  natural  enough  that  the  great  men  who  pre 
sided  over  its  early  years  should  seek  by  Federal  legis 
lation  to  render  it,  as  speedily  and  completely  as 
possible,  industrially  self-dependent  and  self-sup 
porting.  The  war  of  1812  enforced  anew  upon  the 
attention  of  statesmen  the  importance  of  industrial  in 
dependence.  The  war  debt,  together  with  certain  gov 
ernmental  enterprises  and  expenditures  growing  out 
of  the  war,  was  largely,  if  not  wholly,  responsible  for 
the  tariff  of  1816.  This  act  dates  the  rise  of  our 
American  system  of  protection.  It  is  curious  to  note 
that  Southern  men  were  the  leaders  of  this  new  de 
parture  in  the  national  fiscal  policy.  Calhoun,  Clay, 
and  Lowndes  were  the  guiding  spirits  of  that  period 
of  industrial  ferment  and  activity.  They  little  dreamt 
what  economic  evils  were  to  fall  in  consequence 
upon  the  South.  That  section  was  not  slow  to  feel 
the  unequal  action  of  the  protective  principle.  The 
character  of  its  labor  incapacitated  the  South  from 
dividing  the  benefits  of  the  new  revenue  policy  with 
its  free  rival.  The  South  of  necessity  was  restricted 
to  a  single  industry,  the  tillage  of  the  earth.  Slave 
labor  did  not  possess  the  intelligence,  the  skill,  the 
patience,  the  mechanical  versatility  to  embark  suc 
cessfully  in  manufacturing  enterprises.  Free  labor 
monopolised  the  protected  industries,  and  Northern 
capital  caught  all  the  golden  showers  of  fiscal  legis- 


THE    HOUR   AND    THE    MAN.  105 

lation.  What  the  South  needed,  from  an  economic 
point  of  view,  was  unrestricted  access  to  the  markets 
of  the  world  for  her  products,  and  the  freest  competi 
tion  of  the  world  in  her  own  markets.  The  limitations 
imposed  upon  the  slave  States  by  their  industrial 
system  was  in  itself  a  tremendous  handicap  in  their 
struggle  for  an  advantageous  place  in  the  New  World 
of  the  nineteenth  century;  in  their  struggle  with 
their  free  sisters  for  political  leadership  in  the  Union. 
But  with  the  development  of  the  protective  principle 
those  States  fell  into  sore  financial  distress,  were 
ground  between  the  upper  millstone  of  the  protective 
system  and  the  nether  millstone  of  their  own  indus 
trial  system.  Prosperity  and  plenty  did  presently 
disappear  from  that  section  and  settled  in  the  North. 
In  1828  Benton  drew  this  dark  picture  of  the  state  of 
the  South  : 

"  In  place  of  wealth,  a  universal  pressure  for  money 
was  felt ;  not  enough  for  common  expenses  ;  the 
price  of  all  property  down  ;  the  country  drooping 
and  languishing  ;  towns  and  cities  decaying,  and  the 
frugal  habits  of  the  people  pushed  to  the  verge  of 
universal  self-denial  for  the  preservation  of  their 
family  estates." 

He  did  not  hesitate  to  charge  to  Federal  legislation 
the  responsibility  for  all  this  poverty  and  distress, 
for  he  proceeds  to  remark  that : 

"  Under  this  legislation  the  exports  of  the  South 
have  been  made  the  basis  of  the  Federal  revenue. 
The  twenty  odd  millions  annually  levied  upon  im 
ported  goods  are  deducted  out  of  the  price  of  their 
cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco,  either  in  the  diminished 
prices  which  they  receive  for  those  staples  in  foreign 


106  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

ports,  or  in  the  increased  price  which  they  pay  for 
the  articles  they  have  to  consume  at  home." 

A  suffering  people  are  not  apt  to  reason  clearly  or 
justly  on  the  causes  which  have  brought  them  to  in 
digence.  They  feel  their  wretchedness  and  reach  out 
for  a  victim.  And  the  law-making  power  usually 
happens  to  be  that  victim.  As  the  distress  of  the 
South  increased,  the  belief  that  Federal  legislation 
was  responsible  for  it  increased  likewise.  The  spread 
and  deepening  of  this  conviction  in  the  Southern 
States  precipitated  among  them  an  ominous  crisis  in 
their  attachment  to  the  Union.  Nullification  and  an 
embittered  sectionalism  was  the  hateful  legacy 
bequeathed  to  the  republic  by  the  tariff  controversy. 
It  left  the  South  in  a  hyper-sensitive  state  in  all  mat 
ters  relating  to  her  domestic  interests.  It  left  the 
North  in  a  hyper-sensitive  condition  on  all  matters 
touching  the  peace  and  stability  of  the  Union.  The 
silence  and  oblivion  policy  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
was  renewed  with  tenfold  intensity.  Ulysses-like  the 
free  States  bound  themselves,  their  right  of  free 
speech,  and  their  freedom  of  the  press  on  this  subject, 
for  fear  of  the  Siren  voices  which  came  thrilling  on 
every  breeze  from  the  South.  Quiet  was  the  word, 
and  quiet  the  leaders  in  Church  and  State  sought  to 
enforce  upon  the  people,  to  the  end  that  the  vision  of 
"  States  dissevered,  discordant,  belligerent,  of  a  land 
rent  with  civil  feuds,  or  drenched  it  may  be,  in  fra 
ternal  blood,"  might  not  come  to  pass  for  their  "glor 
ious  Union." 

The  increasing  friction  and  heat  between  the  sec 
tions  during  twenty-five  years,  had  effected  every  por 
tion  of  the  Federal  system,  and  created  conditions 


THE    HOUR    AND    THE    MAN.  lO'J 

favorable  to  a  violent  explosion.  Sectional  differences 
of  a  political  and  industrial  complexion,  forty  years 
had  sufficed  to  develop.  Sectional  differences  of  a 
moral  and  social  character  forty  years  had  also  suf 
ficed  to  generate.  To  kindle  all  those  differences,  all 
that  mass  of  combustible  feelings  and  forces  into  a 
general  conflagration  a  spark  only  was  wanted.  And 
out  of  the  glowing  humanity  of  one  man  the  spark 
was  suddenly  struck. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  in  the  year  1829,  the  very 
year  in  which  William  Lloyd  Garrison  landed  in  Bal 
timore,  and  began  the  editorship  of  The  Genius  of 
Universal  Emancipation,  the  American  Convention,  or 
national  assembly  of  the  old  State  societies  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  fell  into  desuetude.  It  was  as  if 
Providence  was  clearing  the  debris  of  an  old  dispen 
sation  out  of  the  way  of  the  new  one  which  his 
prophet  was  beginning  to  herald,  as  if  guarding 
against  all  possibility  of  having  the  new  wine,  then 
soon  to  be  pressed  from  the  moral  vintage  of  the 
nation,  put  into  old  bottles.  The  Hour  for  a  new 
movement  against  slavery  had  come,  and  with  its 
arrival  the  Man  to  hail  it  had  also  come. 

Other  men  had  spoken  and  written  against  slavery, 
and  labored  for  the  freedom  of  the  slave  before  Gar 
rison  had  thought  upon  the  subject  at  all.  Washing 
ton  and  Jefferson,  Franklin,  Jay,  and  Hamilton  had 
been  Abolitionists  before  he  was  born,  but  theirs  was 
a  divided  interest.  The  establishment  of  a  more  per 
fect  union  was  the  paramount  object  of  their  lives. 
John  Wesley  had  denounced  slavery  in  language 
quite  as  harsh  as  Garrison's,  but  his,  too,  was  a 
divided  interest,  the  religious  revival  of  the  eight- 


I08  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

eenth  century  being  his  distinctive  mission.  Benezet, 
Woolman,  and  Lundy  were  saints,  who  had  yearned 
with  unspeakable  sympathy  for  the  black  bondmen, 
and  were  indefatigable  in  good  works  in  his  behalf, 
but  they  had  not  that  stern  and  iron  quality  without 
which  reforms  cannot  be  launched  upon  the  attention 
of  mankind.  What  his  predecessors  lacked,  Garrison 
possessed  to  a  marvelous  degree — the  undivided 
interest,  the  supremacy  of  a  single  purpose,  the  stern 
stuff  out  of  which  the  moral  reformer  is  made,  and  in 
which  he  is  panoplied.  They  were  all  his,  but  there 
was  another  besides — immediatism.  This  element 
distinguished  the  movement  against  slavery,  started 
by  him,  from  all  other  movements  begun  before  he 
arrived  on  the  stage,  for  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  in  the  Union. 

This  doctrine  of  immediate  as  opposed  to  grad 
ual  emancipation,  was  not  original  with  Gar 
rison,  nor  was  he  the  first  to  enunciate  it.  More  than 
a  dozen  years  before  he  was  converted  to  it,  Rev. 
George  Bourne,  in  "  The  Book  and  Slavery  Irrecon 
cilable,"  had  shown  that  "  the  system  (of  slavery)  is 
so  entirely  corrupt  that  it  admits  of  no  cure  but  by 
a  total  and  immediate  abolition.  For  a  gradual  emanci 
pation  is  a  virtual  recognition  of  the  right,  and  es 
tablishes  the  rectitude  of  the  practice.  If  it  be  just 
for  one  moment,  it  is  hallowed  forever  ;  and  if  it  be 
inequitable,  not  a  day  should  it  be  tolerated."  In 
1824,  eight  years  after  the  publication  of  Bourne's 
book,  and  five  years  before  Garrison  announced  the 
doctrine  in  the  Genius,  the  Rev.  James  Duncan  main 
tained  it,  in  his  "  Treatise  on  Slavery,"  with  no  un 
certainty  of  sense  or  conviction.  But  neither  Bourne 


THE    HOUR    AND    THE    MAN.  109 

nor  Duncan  had  been  able  to  effect  an  incarnation  of 
the  doctrine,  without  which  the  good  which  it  aimed 
at  could  not  be  achieved.  What  they  failed  to  effect, 
it  is  the  glory  of  Garrison  that  he  achieved  in  his 
own  person.  He  was  "  total  and  immediate  Abolition  " 
personified.  "  Truth  is  mighty  and  will  prevail,"  is 
a  wise  saying  and  worthy  of  acceptation.  But  this 
ultimate  prevailing  of  TRUTH  depends  mainly  upon 
individual  effort,  applied  not  intermittently,  but 
steadily  to  a  particular  segment  of  the  circle  of  con 
duct.  It  is  the  long,  strong,  never-ending  pull  and  tug 
upon  the  wheels  of  conduct,  which  marks  the  great 
reformer.  He  finds  his  age  or  country  stuck  in  some 
Serbonian  bog  of  iniquity.  He  prays,  but  he  prays 
with  his  shoulders  braced  strenuously  against  the 
body  of  society,  and  he  does  not  cease  his  endeavors 
until  a  revolution  in  conduct  places  his  age  or  country 
on  firm  ground  beyond  its  Serbonian  bog.  The  com 
ing  of  such  a  man  is  no  accident.  When  the  Hour  is 
ready  and  the  Man  comes,  a  new  epoch  in  the  life  of 
a  people  arises  from  the  conjunction.  Of  such  vast 
consequence  verily  was  the  coming  into  American 
history  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    DAY    OF    SMALL    THINGS. 

AFTER  leaving  Baltimore,  Garrison  clung  patheti 
cally  to  the  belief  that,  if  he  told  what  he  had  seen 
of  the  barbarism  of  slavery  to  the  North,  he  would 
be  certain  to  enlist  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  its  lead 
ers,  political  and  ecclesiastical,  in  the  cause  of  eman 
cipation.  The  sequel  to  his  efforts  in  this  regard 
proved  that  he  was  never  more  mistaken  in  his  life. 
He  addressed  letters  to  men  like  Webster,  Jeremiah 
Mason,  Lyman  Beecher,  and  Dr.  Channing,  "  holding 
up  to  their  view  the  tremendous  iniquity  of  the  land, 
and  begging  them,  ere  it  should  be  too  late,  to  inter 
pose  their  great  power  in  the  Church  and  State,  to 
save  our  country  from  the  terrible  calamities  which 
the  sin  of  slavery  was  bringing  upon  us."  But  there 
is  no  evidence  that  this  appeal  produced  the  feeblest 
ripple  in  the  lives  of  the  two  first;  and  upon  the  two 
last  it  was  equally  barren  of  result.  Dr.  Channing, 
indeed,  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  hear  any  one  of 
the  three  lectures  of  the  young  philanthropist.  Dr. 
Beecher,  however,  was  at  the  pains  to  be  present  at 
the  first  lecture  given  at  Julien  Hall.  But  he  be 
trayed  no  real  interest  in  the  subject.  He  had  no 
time  to  devote  to  anti-slvavery,  had,  in  fine,  too  many 
irons  in  the  fire  already.  To  this  impotent  apology 
of  the  great  preacher  of  immediatism  in  his  dealing 

(no) 


THE    DAY    OF    SMALL    THINGS.  Ill 

with  all  kinds  of  sin,  except  the  sin  of  slave-holding, 
for  not  espousing  the  cause  of  the  slave,  Mr.  Garrison 
made  his  famous  retort  : 

"  Then  you  had  better  let  all  your  irons  burn  than 
neglect  your  duty  to  the  slave." 

What  more  did  this  poor  and  friendless  man,  with 
his  one  idea  and  his  harsh  language,  know  of  duties 
and  dangers  than  Daniel  Webster,  who  was  busy  sav 
ing  the  Union;  than  Lyman  Beecher,  who  was  not 
less  busy  saving  souls;  or  than  Dr.  Channing,  who  was 
quite  as  busy  saving  liberalism  in  matters  of  religion  ? 
What  folly  and  presumption  it  must  have  seemed  to 
these  mighty  men  this  attempt  of  Garrison  to  impress 
upon  them  a  proper  sense  of  their  obligations  to  their 
country. 

"  Your  zeal,"  said  Dr.  Beecher  to  him,  with  unlim 
ited  condescension  of  tone — "  your  zeal  is  commend 
able,  but  you  are  misguided.  If  you  will  give  up 
your  fanatical  notions  and  be  guided  by  us  (the 
clergy)  we  will  make  you  the  Wilberforce  of 
America." 

And  so  what  was  the  young  man,  burning  up  with 
his  one  idea,  to  do  in  presence  of  such  a  failure  to 
win  these  men  to  the  leadership  of  the  anti-slavery 
movement  ?  He  could  not  hold  his  peace  ;  his  mes 
sage  he  was  compelled  to  deliver  in  the  ears  of  the 
nation  whether  its  leaders  would  hear  or  forbear. 
Perhaps  the  common  people  would  hearken  to  what 
the  wise  and  powerful  had  rejected.  At  any  rate 
they  should  hear  what  was  resting  upon  his  soul  with 
the  weight  of  a  great  woe,  the  force  of  a  supreme 
command.  But  how  was  he,  penniless  and  friendless, 
to  roll  from  his  bosom  the  burden  which  was  crush- 


112  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

ing  it ;  to  pause  long  enough  in  the  battle  for  bread 
to  fight  the  battle  of  the  slave  ?  Ah,  if  he  had  money! 
but  no  money  did  he  have,  not  a  dollar  in  his  pocket  ! 
Oh,  if  he  had  rich  friends  who  would  dedicate  their 
riches  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  of  freedom  !  but 
alas  !  rich  friends  there  were  none.  Oh,  if  he  could 
cry  to  the  Church  for  help  in  this  hour  of  his  need  ! 
but  it  was  slowly  dawning  on  him  that  not  from  the 
Church  would  help  come  to  his  cause;  for  a  grievous 
thing  had  happened  to  the  Church.  The  slave  gor- 
gon  sat  staring  from  the  pews,  and  turning  the  pul 
pits  to  stone,  turning  also  to  stone  the  hearts  of  the 
people. 

Undismayed  by  the  difficulties  which  were  closing 
in  around  him,  Garrison  resolutely  set  himself  to 
accomplish  his  purpose  touching  the  establishment 
of  a  weekly  paper  devoted  to  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
He  had  promised  in  his  Prospectus  to  issue  the  first 
number  of  the  Public  Liberator  "  as  soon  as  subscrip 
tions  thereto  may  authorize  the  attempt."  But  had 
he  waited  for  the  fulfillment  of  this  condition,  the 
experiment  could  never  have  been  tried.  When  sub 
scribers  did  not  come  in,  the  paper,  he  determined 
should  go  forth  all  the  same.  But  there  are  some 
things  in  the  publication  of  a  paper  which  no  man 
can  dispense  with,  which  indispensable  somethings 
are :  types,  a  press,  an  office,  and  an  assistant.  All 
these  requisites  were  wanting  to  the  man  whose  sole 
possession  seemed  an  indomitable  will,  a  faith  in  him 
self,  and  in  the  righteousness  of  his  cause,  which  noth 
ing  could  shake,  nor  disappointment  nor  difficulty, 
however  great,  was  able  to  daunt  or  deter.  To  such 
an  unconquerable  will,  to  such  an  invincible  faith 


THE    DAY    OF    SMALL    THINGS.  113 

obstacles  vanish;  the  impossible  becomes  the  attain 
able.  As  Garrison  burned  to  be  about  his  work,  help 
came  to  him  from  a  man  quite  as  penniless  and 
friendless  as  himself.  The  man  was  Isaac  Knapp,  an 
old  companion  of  his  in  Newburyport,  who  had  also 
worked  with  him  in  the  office  of  the  Genius,  in  Balti 
more.  He  was  a  practical  printer,  and  was  precisely 
the  sort  of  assistant  that  the  young  reformer  needed 
at  this  juncture  in  the  execution  of  his  purpose  ;  a 
man  like  himself  acquainted  with  poverty,  and  of  un 
limited  capacity  for  the  endurance  of  unlimited  hard 
ships.  Together  they  worked  out  the  financial  prob 
lems  which  blocked  the  way  to  the  publication  of  the 
paper.  The  partners  took  an  office  in  Merchants' 
Hall  building,  then  standing  on  the  corner  of  Con 
gress  and  Water  streets,  Boston,  which  gave  their 
joint  enterprise  a  local  habitation.  It  had  already  a 
name.  They  obtained  the  use  of  types  in  the  print 
ing  office  of  the  Christian  Examiner,  situated  in  the 
same  building.  The  foreman,  Stephen  Foster, 
through  his  ardent  interest  in  Abolition,  made  the 
three  first  numbers  of  the  paper  possible.  The  pub 
lishers  paid  for  the  use  of  the  types  by  working 
during  the  day  at  the  case  in  the  Examiner's  office. 
They  got  the  use  of  a  press  from  another  foreman 
with  Abolition  sympathies,  viz.,  James  B.  Yerrington, 
then  the  printer  of  the  Boston  Daily  Advocate.  Thus 
were  obtained  the  four  indispensables  to  the  publica 
tion  of  the  Liberator — types,  a  press,  an  office,  and  an 
assistant. 

When  at  length  the  offspring  of  such  labor  and 
sacrifices  made  its  appearance  in  the  world,  which 
was  on  January  i,  1831,  it  was,  in  point  of  size,  insig- 


114  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

nificant  enough.  It  did  not  look  as  if  its  voice  would 
ever  reach  beyond  the  small  dark  chamber  where  it 
saw  the  light.  Picture,  oh  !  reader,  a  wee  sheet 
with  four  columns  to  the  page,  measuring  fourteen 
inches  one  way  and  nine  and  a  quarter  the  other, 
and  you  will  get  an  idea  of  the  diminutiveness  of  the 
Liberator  on  the  day  of  its  birth.  The  very  paper  on 
which  it  was  printed  was  procured  on  credit.  To 
the  ordinary  observer  it  must  have  seemed  such  a  weak 
ling  as  was  certain  to  perish  from  inanition  in  the 
first  few  months  of  its  struggle  for  existence  in  the 
world  of  journalism.  It  was  domiciled  during  suc 
cessive  periods  in  four  different  rooms  of  the 
Merchant's  Hall  building,  until  it  reached  No.  u, 
"  under  the  eaves,"  whence  it  issued  weekly  for  many 
years  to  call  the  nation  to  repentance.  A  photographic 
impression  of  this  cradle-room  of  the  anti-slavery 
movement  has  been  left  by  Oliver  Johnson,  an  eye 
witness.  Says  Mr.  Johnson  :  "  The  dingy  walls  ; 
the  small  windows,  bespattered  with  printer's  ink  ; 
the  press  standing  in  one  corner  ;  the  composing- 
stands  opposite  ;  the  long  editorial  and  mailing 
table,  covered  with  newspapers  ;  the  bed  of  the 
editor  and  publisher  on  the  floor — all  these  make 
a  picture  never  to  be  forgotten."  For  the  first 
eighteen  months  the  partners  toiled  fourteen  hours  a 
day,  and  subsisted  "  chiefly  upon  bread  and  milk,  a 
few  cakes,  and  a  little  fruit,  obtained  from  a  baker's 
shop  opposite,  and  a  petty  cake  and  fruit  shop  in  the 
basement,"  and,  alas,  "  were  on  short  commons  even  at 
that."  Amid  such  hard  and  grinding  poverty  was 
the  Liberator  born.  But  the  great  end  of  the 
reformer  glorified  the  mean  surroundings  : 


THE    DAY    OF    SMALL    THINGS.  11$ 

*  O  truth !  O  Freedom !  how  are  ye  still  born 
In  the  rude  stable,  in  the  manger  nursed; 
What  humble  hands  unbar  those  gates  of  morn 
Through  which  the  splendors  of  the  New  Day  burst." 

About  the  brow  of  this  "  infant  crying  in  the  night," 
shone  aureole-like  the  sunlit  legend:  Our  country  is  the 
world — our  countrymen  are  mankind.  The  difference  be 
tween  this  motto  of  the  Liberator  and  that  of  the 
Free  Press  :  Our  country ',  our  whole  country,  and  nothing 
but  our  country — measures  the  greatness  of  the  revolu 
tion  which  had  taken  place  in  the  young  editor. 
The  grand  lesson  he  had  learned,  than  which  there  is 
none  greater,  that  beneath  diversities  of  race,  color, 
creed,  language,  there  is  the  one  human  principle, 
which  makes  all  men  kin.  He  had  learned  at  the  age 
of  twenty-five  to  know  the  mark  of  brotherhood  made 
by  the  Deity  Himself  :  "  Behold  !  my  brother  is  man, 
not  because  he  is  American  or  Anglo-Saxon,  or  white 
or  black,  but  because  he  is  a  fellow-man,"  is  the  simple, 
sublime  acknowledgment,  which  thenceforth  he  was 
to  make  in  his  word  and  life. 

It  was  Mr.  Garrison's  original  design,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  publish  the  Liberator  from  Washington. 
Lundy  had,  since  the  issue  of  the  Prospectus  for  the 
new  paper,  removed  the  Genius  to  the  capital  of  the 
nation.  This  move  of  Lundy  rendered  the  establish 
ment  of  a  second  paper  devoted  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  same  place,  of  doubtful  utility,  but, 
weighty  as  was  this  consideration  from  a  mere  busi 
ness  point  of  view,  in  determining  Garrison  to  locate 
the  Liberator  in  another  quarter,  it  was  not  decisive. 
Just  what  was  the  decisive  consideration,  he  reveals 
in  his  salutatory  address  in  the  Liberator.  Here  it  is  : 


Il6  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

"  During  my  recent  tour  for  the  purpose  of  exciting 
the  minds  of  the  people  by  a  series  of  discourses  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,"  he  confides  to  the  reader, 
"  every  place  that  I  visited  gave  fresh  evidence  of  the 
fact,  that  a  greater  revolution  in  public  sentiment 
was  to  be  effected  in  the  free  States — and  particularly 
in  New  England — than  at  the  South.  I  found  con 
tempt  more  bitter,  opposition  more  active,  detraction 
more  relentless,  prejudice  more  stubborn,  and  apathy 
more  frozen  than  among  slaveowners  themselves 
Of  course  there  were  individual  exceptions  to  the 
contrary.  This  state  of  things  afflicted,  but  did  noi 
dishearten  me.  I  determined,  at  every  hazard,  to  lift 
up  the  standard  of  emancipation  in  the  eyes  of  the 
nation,  within  sight  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  in  the  birthplace 
of  liberty,"  This  final  choice  of  Boston  as  a  base  from 
which  to  operate  against  slavery  was  sagacious,  and 
of  the  greatest  moment  to  the  success  of  the  experi 
ment  and  to  its  effective  service  to  the  cause. 

If  the  reformer  changed  his  original  intention  re 
specting  the  place  of  publication  for  his  paper,  he  made 
no  alteration  of  his  position  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 
"  I  shall  strenuously  contend,"  he  declares  in  the  sal 
utatory,  "  for  the  immediate  enfranchisement  of  our 
slave  population."  "  In  Park  Street  Church,"  he  goes 
on  to  add,  "on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1829,  in  an  address 
on  slavery,  I  unreflectingly  assented  to  the  popular 
but  pernicious  doctrine  of  gradual  abolition.  I  seize 
this  opportunity  to  make  a  full  and  unequivocal 
recantation,  and  thus  publicly  to  ask  pardon  of  my 
God,  of  my  country,  and  of  my  brethren,  the  poor 
slaves,  for  having  uttered  a  sentiment  so  full  of  timid 
ity,  injustice,  and  absurdity." 


THE    DAY    OF    SMALL    THINGS.  Iiy 

To  those  who  find  fault  with  his  harsh  language  he 
makes  reply  :  "  I  will  be  as  harsh  as  truth,  and  as 
uncompromising  as  justice.  On  this  subject,  I  do  not 
wish  to  think,  or  speak,  or  write,  with  moderation. 
No  !  no  !  Tell  a  man  whose  house  is  on  fire  to  give  a 
moderate  alarm  ;  tell  him  to  moderately  rescue  his 
wife  from  the  hands  of  the  ravisher  ;  tell  the  mother 
to  gradually  extricate  her  babe  from  the  fire  into 
which  it  has  fallen — but  urge  me  not  to  use  moder 
ation  in  a  cause  like  the  present.  I  am  in  earnest — 
I  will  not  equivocate — I  will  not  excuse — I  will  not 
retreat  a  single  inch — AND  I  WILL  BE  HEARD."  Mar 
tin  Luther's  "  Here  I  take  my  stand,"  was  not  braver 
or  grander  than  the  "  I  will  be  heard,"  of  the  Ameri 
can  reformer.  It  did  not  seem  possible  that  a  young 
man,  without  influence,  without  money,  standing 
almost  alone,  could  ever  make  good  those  courageous 
words.  The  country,  in  Church  and  State,  had 
decreed  silence  on  the  subject  of  slavery  ;  the  patriot 
ism  of  the  North,  its  commerce,  its  piety,  its  labor  and 
capital  had  all  joined  hands  to  smother  agitation,  and 
stifle  the  discussion  of  a  question  that  imperilled  the 
peace  and  durability  of  Webster's  glorious  Union. 
But  one  man,  tearing  the  gag  from  his  lips,  defying 
all  these,  cried,  "  Silence,  there  shall  not  be  !  "  and 
forthwith  the  whole  land  began  to  talk  on  the  for 
bidden  theme  : 

"O  small  beginnings  ye  are  great  and  strong, 
Based  on  a  faithful  heart  and  weariless  brain! 
Ye  build  the  future  fair,  ye  conquer  wrong. 
Ye  earn  the  crown,  and  wear  it  not  in  vain!" 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  HEAVY  WORLD  IS  MOVED. 

ARCHIMEDES  with  his  lever  desired  a  place  to  stand 
that  he  might  move  the  world  of  matter.  Garrison 
with  his  paper,  having  found  a  place  for  his  feet, 
demonstrated  speedily  his  ability  to  push  from  its 
solid  base  the  world  of  mind.  His  plan  was  very 
simple,  viz.,  to  reveal  slavery  as  it  then  existed  in  its 
naked  enormity,  to  the  conscience  of  the  North,  to  be 
"  as  harsh  as  truth  and  as  uncompromising  as  justice." 
And  so,  week  after  week,  he  packed  in  the  columns  of 
the  Liberator  facts,  the  most  damning  facts,  against 
slaveholders,  their  cruelty  and  tyranny.  He  painted 
the  woes  of  the  slaves  as  if  he,  too,  had  been  a  slave. 
For  the  first  time  the  masters  found  a  man  who 
rebuked  them  as  not  before  had  they  been  rebuked. 
Others  may  have  equivocated,  but  this  man  called 
things  by  their  proper  names,  a  spade,  a  spade,  and 
sin,  sin.  Others  may  have  contented  themselves  with 
denunciations  of  the  sins  and  with  excuses  for  the 
sinner,  as  a  creature  of  circumstances,  the  victim  of 
ancestral  transgressions,  but  this  man  offered  no  ex 
cuses  for  the  slave-holding  sinner.  Him  and  his  sin  he 
denounced  in  language,  which  the  Eternal  puts  only 
into  the  mouths  of  His  prophets.  It  was,  as  he  had 
said,  "  On  this  subject  I  do  not  wish  to  think,  or 
speak,  or  write,  with  moderation."  The  strength  and 
resources  of  his  mother-tongue  seemed  to  him  wholly 

(118) 


THE  HEAVY  WORLD  IS  MOVED.          119 

inadequate  for  his  needs,  to  express  the  transcend 
ent  wickedness  of  slave-holding.  All  the  harsh,  the 
stern,  the  terrible  and  tremendous  energies  of  the 
English  speech  he  drew  upon,  and  launched  at  slave 
holders.  Amid  all  of  this  excess  of  the  enthusiast 
there  was  the  method  of  a  calculating  mind.  He 
aimed  to  kindle  a  conflagration  because  he  had  ice 
bergs  to  melt.  "  The  public  shall  not  be  imposed 
upon,"  he  replied  to  one  of  his  critics,  "  and  men  and 
things  shall  be  called  by  their  right  names.  I  retract 
nothing,  I  blot  out  nothing.  My  language  is  exactly 
such  as  suits  me  ;  it  will  displease  many,  I  know  ;  to 
displease  them  is  my  intention."  He  was  philosopher 

/enough  to  see  that  he  could  reach  the  national  con 
science  only  by  exciting  the  national  anger.  It  was 
not  popular  rage,  which  he  feared  but  popular  apa 
thy.  If  he  could  goad  the  people  to  anger  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  he  would  soon  be  rid  of  their  apa 
thy.  And  so  week  after  week  he  piled  every  sort  of 
combustible  material,  which  he  was  able  to  collect  on 
board  the  Liberator  and  lighting  it  all,  sent  the  fiery 
messenger  blazing  among  the  icebergs  of  the  Union. 
Slaveholders  were  robbers,  murderers,  oppressors  ; 
they  were  guilty  of  all  the  sins  of  the  decalogue,  were 
in  a  word  the  chief  of  sinners.  At  the  same  moment 
that  the  reformer  denied  their  right  of  property  in 
the  slave,  he  attacked  their  character  also,  held  them 
up  in  their  relation  of  masters  to  the  reprobation  of 
the  nation  and  of  mankind  as  monsters  of  injustice 
and  inhumanity.  The  tone  which  he  held  toward 
them,  steadily,  without  shadow  of  change,  was  the 
tone  of  a  righteous  man  toward  the  workers  of  ini 
quity.  The  indifference,  the  apathy,  the  pro-slavery 


120  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

sympathy  and  prejudice  of^the  free  States  rendered  the 
people  of  the  North  hardly  less  culpable.  They  were 
working  iniquity  with  the  people  of  the  South.  This 
was  the  long,  sharp  goad,  which  the  young  editor 
thrust  in  between  the  bars  of  the  Union  and  stirred 
the  guilty  sections  to  quick  and  savage  outbursts  of 
temper  against  him  and  the  bitter  truths  which  he 
preached.  Almost  directly  the  proofs  came  to  him 
that  he  was  HEARD  at  the  South  and  at  the  North 
alike.  Angry  growls  reached  his  ears  in  the  first 
month  of  the  publication  of  the  Liberator  from  some 
heartless  New  England  editors  in  denunciation  of  his 
"  violent  and  intemperate  attacks  on  slaveholders." 
The  Journal,  published  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and 
edited  by  George  D.  Prentice,  declared  that,  "  some 
of  his  opinions  with  regard  to  slavery  in  the  United 
States  are  no  better  than  lunacy."  The  American 
Spectator  published  at  the  seat  of  the  National  Govern 
ment,  had  hoped  that  the  good  sense  of  the  "  late  tal 
ented  and  persecuted  junior  editor "  of  the  Genius^ 
"  would  erelong  withdraw  him  even  from  the  side  of 
the  Abolitionists."  And  from  farther  South  the  growl 
which  the  reformer  heard  was  unmistakably  fero 
cious.  It  was  from  the  State  of  South  Carolina  and 
the  Camden  Journal,  which  pronounced  the  Liberator 
"  a  scandalous  and  incendiary  budget  of  sedition." 
These  were  the  beginning  of  the  chorus  of  curves, 
which  soon  were  to  sing  their  serpent  songs  about  his 
head.  Profane  and  abusive  letters  from  irate  slave 
holders  and  their  Northern  sympathisers  began  to 
pour  into  the  sanctum  of  the  editor.  Within  a  few 
months  after  the  first  issue  of  the  Liberator  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  world  without  had  changed  toward 


THE    HEAVY    WORLD    IS    MOVED.  121 

him.  "  Foes  are  on  my  right  hand,  and  on  my  left," 
he  reported  to  some  friends.  "The  tongue  of  detrac 
tion  is  busy  against  me.  I  have  no  communion  with 
the  world — the  world  none  with  me.  The  timid,  the 
lukewarm,  the  base,  affect  to  believe  that  my  brains  are 
disordered,  and  my  words  the  ravings  of  a  maniac. 
Even  many  of  my  friends — they  who  have  grown  up 
with  me  from  my  childhood — are  transformed  into 
scoffers  and  enemies."  The  apathy  of  the  press,  and 
the  apathy  of  the  people  were  putting  forth  signs 
that  the  long  winter  of  the  land  was  passing  away. 

To  a  colored  man  belongs  the  high  honor  of  having 
been  the  courier  avant  of  the  slavery  agitation.  This 
man  was  David  Walker,  who  lived  in  Boston,  and 
who  published  in  1829  a  religio-political  discussion 
of  the  status  of  the  negroes  of  the  United  States  in 
four  articles.  The  wretchedness  of  the  blacks  in  con 
sequence  of  slavery  he  depicted  in  dark  and  bitter 
language.  Theodore  Parker,  many  years  afterward, 
said  that  the  negro  was  deficient  in  vengeance,  the 
lowest  form  of  justice.  "  Walker's  Appeal  "  evinced 
no  deficiency  in  this  respect  in  its  author.  The  pam 
phlet  found  its  way  South,  and  was  the  cause  of  no 
little  commotion  among  the  master-class.  It  was 
looked  upon  as  an  instigation  to  servile  insurrection. 
The  "  Appeal "  was  proscribed,  and  a  price  put  upon 
the  head  of  the  author.  Garrison  deprecated  the 
sanguinary  character  of  the  book.  For  he  himself 
was  the  very  reverse  of  Walker.  Garrison  was  a  full 
believer  in  the  literal  doctrine  of  non-resistance  as 
enunciated  by  Jesus.  He  abhorred  all  war,  and  phy 
sical  collisions  of  every  description,  as  wicked  and 
inhuman.  He  sang  to  the  slave  : 


122  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

"  Not  by  the  sword  shall  your  deliverance  be ; 
Not  by  the  shedding  of  your  master's  blood, 
Not  by  rebellion — or  foul  treachery, 
Upspringing  suddenly,  like  swelling  flood  ; 
Revenge  and  rapine  ne'er  did  bring  forth  good. 
God's  time  is  best! — nor  will  it  long  delay  ; 
Even  now  your  barren  cause  begins  to  bud, 
And  glorious  shall  the  fruit  be  ! — watch  and  pray, 
For  lo !  the  kindling  dawn  that  ushers  in  the  day." 

He  considered  "Walker's  Appeal"  "a  most  inju 
dicious  publication,  yet  warranted  by  the  creed  of  an 
independent  people."  He  saw  in  our  Fourth-of-July 
demonstrations,  in  our  glorification  of  force  as  an 
instrument  for  achieving  liberty,  a  constant  incentive 
to  the  slaves  to  go  and  do  likewise.  If  it  was  right 
for  the  men  of  1776  to  rise  in  rebellion  against  their 
mother-country,  it  surely  could  not  be  wrong  were 
the  slaves  to  revolt  against  their  oppressors,  and 
strike  for  their  freedom.  It  certainly  did  not  lie  in 
the  mouth  of  a  people,  who  apotheosized  force,  to 
condemn  them.  What  was  sauce  for  the  white  man's 
goose  was  sauce  for  the  black  man's  gander. 

The  South  could  not  distinguish  between  this  sort 
of  reasoning,  and  an  express  and  positive  appeal  to 
the  slaves  to  cut  the  throats  of  their  masters.  The 
contents  of  the  Liberator  were  quite  as  likely  to  pro 
duce  a  slave  insurrection  as  was  "  Walker's  Appeal," 
if  the  paper  was  allowed  to  circulate  freely  among 
the  slave  population.  It  was,  in  fact,  more  dangerous 
to  the  lives  and  interests  of  slaveholders  by  virtue  of 
the  pictorial  representation  of  the  barbarism  and 
abomination  of  the  peculiar  institution,  introduced 
as  a  feature  of  the  Liberator  in  its  seventeenth  num 
ber,  in  the  shape  of  a  slave  auction,  where  the  slaves 


THE    HEAVY    WORLD    IS    MOVED.  123 

are  chattels,  and  classed  with  "  horses  and  other 
cattle,"  and  where  the  tortures  of  the  whipping-post 
are  in  vigorous  operation.  Here  was  a  message, 
which  every  slave,  however  ignorant  and  illiterate 
could  read.  His  instinct  would  tell  him,  wherever 
he  saw  the  pictured  horror,  that  a  friend,  not  an 
enemy,  had  drawn  it,  but  for  what  purpose  ?  What 
was  the  secret  meaning,  which  he  was  to  extract  from 
a  portrayal  of  his  woes  at  once  so  real  and  terrible. 
Was  it  to  be  a  man,  to  seize  the  knife,  the  torch,  to 
slay  and  burn  his  way  to  the  rights  and  estate  of  a 
man  ?  Garrison  had  put  no  such  bloody  import  into 
the  cut.  It  was  designed  not  to  appeal  to  the  pas 
sions  of  the  slaves,  but  to  the  conscience  of  the 
North.  But  the  South  did  not  so  read  it,  was  inca 
pable,  in  fact,  of  so  reading  it.  What  it  saw  was  a 
shockingly  realistic  representation  of  the  wrongs  of 
the  slaves,  the  immediate  and  inevitable  effect  of 
which  upon  the  slaves  would  be  to  incite  them  to 
sedition,  to  acts  of  revenge.  Living  as  the  slave 
holders  were  over  mines  of  powder  and  dynamite,  it 
is  not  to  be  marveled  at  that  the  first  flash  of  danger 
filled  them  with  apprehension  and  terror.  The  awful 
memories  of  San  Domingo  flamed  red  and  dreadful 
against  the  dark  background  of  every  Southern 
plantation  and  slave  community.  In  the  "  belly  "  of 
the  Liberator's  picture  were  many  San  Domingos. 
Extreme  fear  is  the  beginning  of  madness;  it  is,  indeed, 
a  kind  of  madness.  The  South  was  suddenly  plunged 
into  a  state  of  extreme  fear  toward  which  the  Libera 
tor  and  "  Walker's  Appeal  "  were  hurrying  it,  by 
one  of  those  strange  accidents  or  coincidences  of 
history. 


124  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

This  extraordinary  circumstance  was  the  slave  in 
surrection  in  Southampton,  Virginia,  in  the  month  of 
August,  1831.  The  leader  of  the  uprising  was  the 
now  famous  Nat  Turner.  Brooding  over  the  wrongs 
of  his  race  for  several  years,  he  conceived  that  he 
was  the  divinely  appointed  agent  to  redress  them. 
He  was  cast  in  the  mould  of  those  rude  heroes,  who 
spring  out  of  the  sides  of  oppression  as  isolated  trees 
will  sometimes  grow  out  of  clefts  in  a  mountain. 
With  his  yearning  to  deliver  his  people,  there  mingled 
not  a  little  religious  frenzy  and  superstition.  Getting 
his  command  from  Heaven  to  arise  against  the  mas 
ters,  he  awaited  the  sign  from  this  same  source  of 
the  moment  for  beginning  the  work  of  destruction. 
It  came  at  last  and  on  the  night  of  August  2ist;  he  and 
his  confederates  made  a  beginning  by  massacring 
first  his  own  master,  Mr.  Joseph  Travis,  and  his  entire 
family.  Turner's  policy  was  remorseless  enough. 
It  was  to  spare  no  member  of  the  white  race,  whether 
man,  woman,  or  child,  the  very  infant  at  the  mother's 
breast  was  doomed  to  the  knife,  until  he  was  able  to 
collect  such  an  assured  force  as  would  secure  the  suc 
cess  of  the  enterprise.  This  purpose  was  executed 
with  terrible  severity  and  exactness.  All  that  night 
the  work  of  extermination  went  on  as  the  slave  leader 
and  his  followers  passed  like  fate  from  house  to 
house,  and  plantation  to  plantation,  leaving  a  wide 
swathe  of  death  in  their  track.  Terror  filled  the 
night,  terror  filled  the  State,  the  most  abject  terror 
clutched  the  bravest  hearts.  The  panic  was  pitiable, 
horrible.  James  McDowell,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Old  Dominion,  gave  voice  to  the  awful  memories 
and  sensations  of  that  night,  in  the  great  anti- 


THE    HEAVY    WORLD    IS    MOVED.  125 

slavery  debate,  which  broke  out  in  the  Virginia  Legis 
lature,  during  the  winter  afterward.  One  of  the 
legislators,  joined  to  his  idol,  and  who  now,  that 
the  peril  had  passed,  laughed  at  the  uprising  as  a 
"petty  affair."  McDowell  retorted — "Was  that  a 
*  petty  affair,'  which  erected  a  peaceful  and  confiding 
portion  of  the  State  into  a  military  camp,  which  out 
lawed  from  pity  the  unfortunate  beings  whose  broth 
ers  had  offended  ;  which  barred  every  door,  pene 
trated  every  bosom  with  fear  or  suspicion,  which  so 
banished  every  sense  of  security  from  every  man's 
dwelling,  that  let  but  a  hoof  or  horn  break  upon  the 
silence  of  the  night,  and  an  aching  throb  would  be 
driven  to  the  heart  ?  The  husband  would  look  to  his 
weapon,  and  the  mother  would  shudder  and  weep 
upon  her  cradle.  Was  it  the  fear  of  Nat  Turner  and 
his  deluded,  drunken  handful  of  followers  which  pro 
duced  such  effects  ?  Was  it  this  that  induced  distant 
counties,  where  the  very  name  of  Southampton  was 
strange,  to  arm  and  equip  for  a  struggle  ?  No,  sir,  it 
was  the  suspicion  eternally  attached  to  the  slave  himself , 
— a  suspicion  that  a  Nat  Turner  might  be  in  every 
family,  that  the  same  bloody  deed  might  be  acted 
over  at  any  time  and  in  any  place,  that  the  materials 
for  it  were  spread  through  the  land,  and  were  always 
ready  for  a  like  explosion." 

Sixty-one  whites  and  more  than  a  hundred  blacks 
perished  in  this  catastrophe.  The  news  produced  a 
profound  sensation  in  the  Union.  Garrison  himself, 
as  he  records,  was  horror-struck  at  the  tidings. 
Eight  months  before  he  had  in  a  strain  of  prophecy 
penetrated  the  future  and  caught  a  glimpse  of  just 
such  an  appalling  tragedy  : 


126  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

"  Wo,  if  it  come  with  storm,  and  blood,  and  fire, 
When  midnight  darkness  veils  the  earth  and  sky ! 
Wo  to  the  innocent  babe — the  guilty  sire — 
Mother  and  daughter — friends  of  kindred  tie ! 
Stranger  and  citizen  alike  shall  die! 
Red-handed  slaughter  his  revenge  shall  feed, 
And  havoc  yell  his  ominous  death-cry, 
And  wild  despair  in  vain  for  mercy  plead — 
While  hell  itself  shall  shrink  and  sicken  at  the  deed  ! " 

After  the  Southampton  insurrection  the  slavery 
agitation  increased  apace,  and  the  Liberator  and  its 
editor  became  instantly  objects  of  dangerous  noto 
riety  in  it  The  eyes  of  the  country  were  irresistibly 
drawn  to  them.  They  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  up 
rising,  they  were  instigating  the  slaves  to  similar 
outbreaks.  The  savage  growlings  of  a  storm  came 
thrilling  on  every  breeze  from  the  South,  and  wrath 
ful  mutterings  against  the  agitator  and  his  paper 
grew  thenceforth  more  distinct  and  threatening 
throughout  the  free  States.  October  15,  1831,  Garri 
son  records  in  the  Liberator  that  he  "  is  constantly 
receiving  from  the  slave  States  letters  filled  with  the 
most  diabolical  threats  and  indecent  language."  In 
the  same  month  Georgetown,  S.  C.,  in  a  panic  made 
it  unlawful  for  a  free  colored  person  to  take  the  Lib 
erator  from  the  post-office.  In  the  same  month  the 
Charleston  Mercury  announced  that  "  gentlemen  of 
the  first  respectability "  at  Columbia  had  offered  a 
reward  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  the  arrest  and 
conviction  of  any  white  person  circulating  the  Libera 
tor,  Walker's  pamphlet,  "  or  any  other  publication  of 
seditious  tendency."  In  Georgia  the  same  symptoms 
of  fright  were  exhibited.  In  the  same  month  the 


THE    HEAVY    WORLD    IS    MOVED.  127 

grand  jury  at  Raleigh,  N.  C.,  indicted  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  and  Isaac  Knapp  for  circulating  the  Libera 
tor  in  that  county.  It  was  even  confidently  expected 
that  a  requisition  would  be  made  by  the  Executive  of 
the  State  upon  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  for 
their  arrest,  when  they  would  be  tried  under  a  law, 
which  made  their  action  felony.  "  Whipping  and 
imprisonment  for  the  first  offence,  and  death,  without 
benefit  of  clergy,  for  the  second."  Governor  Floyd 
said  in  his  message  to  the  Virginia  Legislature  in 
December  that  there  was  good  cause  to  suspect  that 
the  plans  of  the  Southampton  massacre  were  "  de 
signed  and  matured  by  unrestrained  fanatics  in  some 
of  the  neighboring  States."  Governor  Hamilton  sent 
to  the  South  Carolina  Legislature  in  the  same  month 
an  excited  message  on  the  situation.  He  was  in 
entire  accord  with  the  Virginia  Executive  as  to  the 
primary  and  potent  agencies  which  led  to  the  slave 
uprising  in  Virginia.  They  were  "  incendiary  news 
papers  and  other  publications  put  forth  in  the  non- 
slave-holding  States,  and  freely  circulated  within  the 
limits  of  Virginia."  As  specimens  of  "incendiary 
newspapers  and  other  publications,  put  forth  in  the 
non-slave-holding  States,"  the  South  Carolina  official 
sent  along  with  his  message,  copies  of  the  Liberator 
and  of  Mr.  Garrison's  address  to  the  "  Free  People  of 
Color,"  for  the  enlightenment  of  the  members  of  the 
Legislature.  But  it  remained  for  Georgia  to  cap  the 
climax  of  madness  when  her  Legislature  resolved  : 
*  That  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  be,  and  the 
same  is  hereby  appropriated,  to  be  paid  to  any  person 
or  persons  who  shall  arrest,  bring  to  trial  and  prosecute 
to  conviction,  under  the  laws  of  this  State,  the  editor 


128  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

or  publisher  of  a  certain  paper  called  the  Liberator, 
published  in  the  town  of  Boston  and  State  of  Mass 
achusetts  ;  or  who  shall  arrest  and  bring  to  trial  and 
prosecute  to  conviction,  under  the  laws  of  this  State, 
any  other  person  or  persons  who  shall  utter,  publish, 
or  circulate  within  the  limits  of  this  State  said  paper 
called  the  Liberator,  or  any  other  paper,  circular, 
pamphlet,  letter,  or  address  of  a  seditious  character." 
This  extraordinary  resolve  was  signed  Dec.  26,  1831, 
by  "Wilson  Lumpkin,  Governor."  The  whole  South 
was  in  a  state  of  terror.  In  its  insane  fright  it  would 
have  made  short  shrift  of  the  editor  of  the  Liberator, 
had  he  by  accident,  force,  or  fraud  have  fallen  into 
the  clutches  of  its  laws.  The  Georgia  reward  of  five 
thousand  dollars  was  as  Mr.  Garrison  put  it,  "  a  bribe 
to  kidnappers."  The  Southern  method  of  dealing 
with  the  agitation  within  the  slave  States  was  violent 
and  effective.  There  could  be  no  agitation  after  the 
agitators  were  abolished.  And  the  Southern  method 
was  to  abolish  the  agitators. 

The  suppression  of  Abolitionism  within  the  slave 
States  was  no  difficult  matter,  but  its  suppression  at 
the  North  was  a  problem  of  a  wholly  different  nature, 
as  the  South  was  not  long  in  finding  out.  It  would 
not  understand  why  its  violent  treatment  of  the  disease 
within  its  jurisdiction  could  not  be  prescribed  as  a 
remedy  by  the  non-slave-holding  half  of  the  Union 
within  its  borders.  And  so  the  South  began  to  call 
loudly  and  fiercely  for  the  suppression  of  a  movement 
calculated  to  incite  the  slaves  to  insubordination  and 
rebellion.  This  demand  of  the  South  had  its  influence 
at  the  North.  Such  newspapers  as  the  National 
Intelligencer ;  and  the  Boston  Courier  suggested 


THE    HEAVY   WORLD   IS    MOVED.  129 

amendments  to  the  laws  whereby  the  publication  of 
incendiary  writings  in  the  free  States  might  be  pro 
hibited.  The  latter  journal  allowed  that  under  the 
criminal  code  of  Massachusetts  "  every  man  has  a 
right  to  advocate  Abolition,  or  conspiracy,  or  mur 
der  ;  for  he  may  do  all  these  without  breaking  our 
laws,  although  in  any  Southern  State  public  justice 
and  public  safety  would  require  his  punishment. 
"  But,"  the  editor  goes  on  to  remark,  "  if  we  have  no 
laws  upon  the  subject,  it  is  because  the  exigency 
was  not  anticipated  .  .  .  Penal  statutes  against 
treasonable  and  seditious  publications  are  necessary 
in  all  communities.  We  have  them  for  our  own  pro 
tection  ;  if  they  should  include  provisions  for  the  pro 
tection  of  our  neighbors  it  would  be  no  additional 
encroachment  upon  the  liberty  of  the  press."  The 
Governors  of  Virginia  and  Georgia  remonstrated  with 
Harrison  Gray  Otis,  who  was  Mayor  of  Boston  in 
the  memorable  year  of  1831,  "against  an  incendiary 
newspaper  published  in  Boston,  and,  as  they  alleged, 
thrown  broadcast  among  their  plantations,  inciting  to 
insurrection  and  its  horrid  results."  As  a  lawyer 
Mayor  Otis,  however,  "  perceived  the  intrinsic,  if  not 
insuperable  obstacles  to  legislative  enactments  made 
to  prevent  crimes  from  being  consummated  beyond 
the  local  jurisdiction."  But  the  South  was  not  seek 
ing  a  legal  opinion  as  to  what  it  could  or  could  not 
do.  It  demanded,  legal  or  illegal, that  Garrison  and  the 
Liberator  be  suppressed.  To  the  Boston  mayor  the 
excitement  over  the  editor  and  his  paper  seemed  like 
much  ado  about  nothing  The  cause  appeared  to 
his  supercilious  mind  altogether  inadequate  to  the 
effect.  And  so  he  set  to  work  to  reduce  the  panic  by 


130  WILLIAM    LLOYD   GARRISON. 

exposing  the  vulgarity  and  insignificance  of  the 
object,  which  produced  it.  That  he  might  give  the 
Southern  bugaboo  its  quietus,  he  directed  one  of  his 
deputies  to  inquire  into  a  publication,  of  which  "  no 
member  of  the  city  government,  nor  any  person,"  of 
his  honor's  acquaintance,  "  had  ever  heard."  The 
result  of  this  inquiry  Mayor  Otis  reported  to  the 
Southern  functionaries. 

"  Some  time  afterward,"  he  wrote,  "  it  was  reported 
to  me  by  the  city  officers  that  they  had  ferreted  out 
the  paper  and  its  editor;  that  his  office  was  an  ob 
scure  hole,  his  only  visible  auxiliary  a  negro  boy,  and 
his  supporters  a  very  few  insignificant  persons  of  all 
colors." 

With  this  bare  bodkin  Harrison  Gray  Otis  thought 
to  puncture  the  Southern  panic.  But  the  slave 
holders  had  correcter  notions  of  the  nature  and  tend 
ency  of  the  Abolition  enterprise  than  had  the  Boston 
mayor.  They  had  a  strange,  an  obstinate  presenti 
ment  of  disaster  from  the  first  instant  that  the  Liber 
ator  loomed  upon  their  horizon.  It  was  a  battery 
whose  guns,  unless  silenced,  would  play  havoc 
with  Southern  interests  and  the  slave  system;  ergo, 
the  paper  must  be  suppressed;  ergo,  its  editor  must 
be  silenced  or  destroyed.  And  so  when  Otis,  from 
his  serene  height,  assured  them  of  his  "  belief  that 
the  new  fanaticism  had  not  made,  nor  was  likely  to 
make,  proselytes  among  the  respectable  classes  of 
our  people,"  they  continued  to  listen  to  their  fears, 
and  to  cry  the  louder  for  the  suppression  of  the 
"  incendiary  newspaper  published  in  Boston." 

The  editor  of  that  paper  never  flinched  before  the 
storm  of  malignity  which  was  gathering  about  his 


THE   HEAVY   WORLD    IS   MOVED.  131 

head.  He  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  labor 
ing  at  the  case  more  than  fourteen  hours  every  day, 
except  Sundays,  upon  the  paper,  renewing,  week  after 
week,  his  assaults  upon  the  citadel  of  the  great  ini 
quity,  giving  no  quarter  to  slave-holding  sinners,  but 
carrying  aloft  the  banner  of  IMMEDIATE  AND  UNCON 
DITIONAL  EMANCIPATION.  Otis  had  looked  to  num 
bers  and  respectability  as  his  political  barometer  and 
cue;  but  when,  after  diligent  search  with  official 
microscopes,  he  failed  to  observe  the  presence  of 
either  in  connection  with  this  "  new  fanaticism,"  wise 
man  that  he  was,  he  turned  over  and  renewed  his  slum 
bers  on  the  edge  of  a  volcano  whose  ominous  rum 
bling  the  Southern  heart  had  heard  and  interpreted 
aright.  He  was  too  near  to  catch  the  true  import  of 
the  detonations  of  those  subterranean  forces  which 
were  sounding,  week  after  week,  in  the  columns  of 
the  Liberator.  They  seemed  trivial,  harmless,  con 
temptible,  like  the  toy  artillery  of  children  bombard 
ing  Fort  Independence.  Garrison's  moral  earnest 
ness  and  enthusiasm  seemed  to  the  Boston  mayor 
like  the  impotent  rage  of  a  man  nursing  memories  of 
personal  injuries  suffered  at  the  South. 

If  there  was  panic  in  the  South,  there  was  none  in 
the  office  of  the  Liberator.  Unterrified  by  the  com 
motion  which  his  composing-stick  was  producing 
near  and  far,  he  laughed  to  scorn  the  abuse  and 
threats  of  his  enemies.  When  the  news  of  the  reward 
of  the  State  of  Georgia  "  for  the  abduction  of  his 
person  "  reached  him,  he  did  not  quail,  great  as  was 
his  peril,  but  boldly  replied  : 

"  Of  one  thing  we  are  sure :  all  Southern  threats 
and  rewards  will  be  insufficient  to  deter  us  from  pur- 


132  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

suing  the  work  of  emancipation.  As  citizens  of  the 
United  States  we  know  our  rights  and  dare  maintain 
them.  We  have  committed  no  crime,  but  are  expend 
ing  our  health,  comfort,  and  means  for  the  salvation 
of  our  country,  and  for  the  interests  and  security  of 
infatuated  slaveholders,  as  well  as  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor  slaves." 

Archimedes  with  his  lever  had  moved  the  world. 
Archimedes  "in  a  small  chamber,  unfurnitured  and 
mean,"  had  set  a  world  of  pro-slavery  passions  and 
prejudices  spinning  away  into  space  : 

"  Such  earnest  natures  are  the  fiery  pith, 

The  compact  nucleus,  'round  which  systems  grow; 
Mass  after  mass  becomes  inspired  therewith, 
And  whirls  impregnate  with  the  central  glow." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MASTER    STROKES. 

"  HELP  came  but  slowly  "  to  the  reformer.  With  a 
single  instrument  he  had  stirred  the  nation,  as  no 
other  man  had  done,  on  the  slavery  question.  He  had 
thrown  the  South  into  widespread  excitement,  and 
thawed  the  apathy  of  the  North  into  widespread 
attention.  He  had  won  an  almost  instant  hearing  for 
his  cause.  But  he  knew  that  this  was  not  enough. 
Effective  as  he  had  shown  the  weapon  of  the  press  to 
be,  it  alone  was  unequal  to  the  conduct  of  prolonged 
agitation.  And  prolonged  agitation  Garrison  clearly 
apprehended  was  to  be  the  price  of  abolition.  Back 
of  him  and  the  Liberator  he  needed  an  organized 
force,  coadjutors  like  Aaron  and  Hur  to  hold  up  his 
arms  during  the  mighty  conflict  on  which  he  had  now 
entered  with  the  slave  interests  of  the  country.  Those 
interests  were  organized,  and  because  they  were 
organized  they  were  powerful.  The  sentiment  of 
freedom  he  determined  to  organize  and  to  render  it 
thereby  invincible.  To  organized  wrong  he  designed 
to  oppose  organized  right,  confident  that  organized 
right  would  prevail  in  the  end.  He  had  knowledge 
of  the  utility  of  temperance  societies  in  advancing 
the  cause  of  sobriety  among  the  people.  He  had 
learned  from  Lundy  how  much  he  had  relied  upon 
the  union  of  men  as  anti-slavery  helps.  Garrison 
determined  to  summon  to  his  side  the  powerful 


134  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

agency  of  an  anti-slavery  society  devoted  to 
immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation.  He  had 
already  made  converts  ;  he  had  already  a  small  fol 
lowing.  At  Julien  Hall,  on  the  occasion  of  his  first 
lecture  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  he  had  secured  three 
remarkable  men  to  the  movement,  viz.,  Rev.  Samuel 
J.  May,  then  a  young  Unitarian  minister,  Samuel  E. 
Sewall,  a  young  member  of  the  Bar,  and  A.  Bronson 
Alcott,  a  sage  even  in  his  early  manhood.  They  had 
all  promised  him  aid  and  comfort  in  the  great  task 
which  he  had  undertaken.  A  little  later  two  others, 
quite  as  remarkable  as  those  first  three  were  drawn 
to  the  reformer's  side,  and  abetted  him  in  the  treason 
to  iniquity,  which  he  was  prosecuting  through  the 
columns  of  the  Liberator  with  unrivaled  zeal  and 
devotion.  These  disciples  were  Ellis  Grey  Loring 
and  David  Lee  Child.  They  were  a  goodly  company, 
were  these  five  conspirators,  men  of  intellect  and 
conscience,  of  high  family  and  social  connections,  of 
brilliant  attainments  and  splendid  promises  for  the 
future.  To  this  number  must  be  added  a  sixth^ 
Oliver  Johnson,  who  was  at  the  time  editing  The 
Christian  Soldier,  disciple  of  Garrison  then,  and  ever 
after  his  devoted  friend.  The  early  promises  of  this 
noble  half  dozen  friends  of  the  slave  were  more  than 
fulfilled  in  after  years.  Often  to  the  dingy  room 
"  under  the  eaves  "  in  Merchants'  Hall  they  climbed 
to  carry  aid  and  comfort  to  "  one  poor,  unlearned 
young  man,"  and  to  sit  at  his  feet  in  this  cradle-room 
of  the  new  movement.  It  was  there  in  communion 
with  the  young  master  that  suggestions  looking  to 
the  formation  of  an  anti-slavery  society,  were  doubt 
less  first  thrown  out. 


MASTER   STROKES.  135 

"  The  place  was  dark,  unfurnitured  and  mean  ; 
Yet  there  the  freedom  of  a  race  began." 

It  was  not  all  clear  sailing  for  the  editor  of  the  Lib 
erator  even  with  such  choice  spirits.  They  did  not 
always  carry  aid  and  comfort  to  him,  but  diff 
erences  of  opinions  sometimes  as  well.  He  did  not 
sugar-coat  enough  the  bitter  truth  which  he  was  tell 
ing  to  the  nation.  Some  of  them  would  have  prefer 
red  The  Safety  Lamp  to  the  Liberator  as  a  title  less 
likely  to  offend  the  prejudices  of  many  good  people. 
Some  again  objected  to  the  pictorial  heading  of  the 
paper  as  an  altogether  unwise  proceeding,  and  posi 
tively  mischievous.  He  had  the  same  experience 
when  the  formation  of  an  Abolition  society  was  under 
consideration.  He  was  confronted  with  this  benevo 
lent  aversion  to  giving  offence  by  calling  things  by 
their  right  names.  But  much  as  he  desired  to  have 
his  friends  and  followers  organized  for  associated 
action,  where  a  principle  was  at  stake  he  was  with 
them  as  with  slavery  itself  absolutely  inflexible  and 
uncompromising.  He  was  for  organizing  on  the 
principle  of  immediate  emancipation.  A  few  deemed 
that  ground  too  radical  and  revolutionary,  and  were 
for  ranging  themselves  under  the  banner  of  Gradual 
ism,  thinking  to  draw  to  their  ranks  a  class  of  people, 
who  would  be  repelled  by  Immediatism.  But  Garri 
son  was  unyielding,  refused  to  budge  an  inch  to  con 
ciliate  friend  or  foe — not  even  such  stanch  supporters 
as  were  Sewall  and  Loring,  who  supplied  him  again 
and  again  with  money  needed  to  continue  the  publi 
cation  of  the  Liberator.  No,  he  was  right  and  they 
were  wrong,  and  they,  not  he,  ought  accordingly  to 
yield.  The  contention  between  the  leader  and  his 


I$  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

disciples  was  not  what  was  expedient,  but  what  was 
right.  It  was  on  the  part  of  the  leader  the  assertion 
of  a  vital  principle,  and  on  this  ground  he  was 
pledged  against  retreat.  The  mountain  could  not  go 
to  Mahomet,  therefore  Mahomet  must  needs  go  to  the 
mountain.  Garrison  could  not  abandon  his  position, 
wherefore  in  due  time  Loring,  Child,  and  Sewall  sur 
rendered  theirs.  Finely  has  Lowell  expressed  this 
righteous  stubborness,  and  steadfastness  to  principle 
in  three  stanzas  of  his  poem  entitled,  "  The  Day  of 
Small  Things,"  and  which  have  such  an  obvious  les 
son  for  our  own  times  that  I  shall  venture  to  quote 
them  in  this  place  : 

"Who  is  it  will  not  dare  himself  to  trust? 
Who  is  it  hath  not  strength  to  stand  alone  ? 
Who  is  it  thwarts  and  bilks  the  inward  MUST  ? 
He  and  his  works,  like  sand  from  earth  are  blown. 

"  Men  of  a  thousand  shifts  and  wiles  look  here ! 
See  one  straightforward  conscience  put  in  pawn 
To  win  a  world !    See  the  obedient  sphere 
By  bravery's  simple  gravitation  drawn ! 

"  Shall  we  not  heed  the  lesson  taught  of  old, 
And  by  the  Present's  lips  repeated  still, 
In  our  own  single  manhood  to  be  bold, 
Fortressed  in  conscience  and  impregnable  will  ?  " 

The  history  of  the  making  of  this  first  society  is  an 
interesting  story.  There  were  four  meetings  in  all 
before  it  was  found  possible  to  complete  the  work  of 
its  organization.  These  meetings  extended  over  a 
space  of  nearly  three  months,  so  obstinate  were  a 
minority  against  committing  the  proposed  society 
to  the  principle  of  immediate  emancipation.  The 


MASTER    STROKES.  137 

very  name  which  was  to  be  given  to  the  association 
provoked  debate  and  disagreement.  Some  were  for 
christening  it  "  Philo-African,"  while  Garrison  would 
no  such  milk-and-water  title,  but  one  which  expressed 
distinctly  and  graphically  the  real  character  of  the  or 
ganization,  viz.,  "New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society." 
He  would  sail  under  no  false  or  neutral  colors,  but 
beneath  the  red  flag  of  open  and  determined  hos 
tility  to  slavery.  It  should  be  a  sign  which  no  one 
could  possibly  mistake.  The  first  meeting  was  held 
at  the  office  of  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  November  13,  1831. 
At  the  third  meeting,  convened  New  Year's  evening 
of  1832,  which  was  the  first  anniversary  of  the  publi 
cation  of  the  Liberator,  the  work  of  organization  was 
finished,  with  a  single  important  exception,  viz.,  the 
adoption  of  the  preamble  to  the  constitution.  The 
character  of  the  preamble  would  fix  the  character  of 
the  society.  Therefore  that  which  was  properly  first 
was  made  to  come  last.  The  fourth  meeting  took 
place  on  the  night  of  January  6th  in  the  African  Bap 
tist  Church  on  what  was  then  Belknap  but  now  known 
as  Joy  street.  The  young  leader  and  fourteen  of  his 
followers  met  that  evening  in  the  school-room  for 
colored  children,  situated  under  the  auditorium  of 
the  church.  They  could  hardly  have  fallen  upon  a 
more  obscure  or  despised  place  for  the  consummation 
of  their  enterprise  in  the  city  of  Boston  than  was 
this  selfsame  negro  church  and  school-room.  The 
weather  added  an  ever  memorable  night  to  the  oppro 
brium  of  the  spot.  A  fierce  northeaster  accompanied 
with  "  snow,  rain,  and  hail  in  equal  proportions  "  was 
roaring  and  careering  through  the  city's  streets.  To 
an  eye-witness,  Oliver  Johnson,  "  it  almost  seemed 


138  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

as  if  Nature  was  frowning  upon  the  new  effort  to 
abolish  slavery  ;  but,"  he  added,  "  the  spirits  of  the 
little  company  rose  superior  to  all  external  circum 
stances." 

If  there  was  strife  of  the  elements  without,  neither 
was  there  sweet  accord  within  among  brethren. 
"The  spirits  of  the  little  company"  may  have  risen 
superior  to  the  weather,  but  they  did  not  rise  super 
ior  to  the  preamble,  with  the  principle  of  immediatism 
incorporated  in  it.  Eleven  stood  by  the  leader  and 
made  it  the  chief  of  the  corner  of  the  new  society, 
while  three,  Messrs.  Loring,  Sewall,  and  Child,  re 
fused  to  sign  the  Constitution  and  parted  sorrowfully 
from  the  small  band  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery 
Society.  But  the  separation  was  only  temporary,  for 
each  returned  to  the  side  of  the  reformer,  and  proved 
his  loyalty  and  valor  in  the  trying  years  which  fol 
lowed. 

The  preamble  which  was  the  bone  of  so  much  con 
tention  declared  that  :  "  We,  the  undersigned,  hold 
that  every  person,  of  full  age  and  sane  mind,  has  a 
right  to  immediate  freedom  from  personal  bondage 
of  whatsoever  kind,  unless  imposed  by  the  sentence 
of  the  law  for  the  commission  of  some  crime.  We 
hold  that  man  cannot,  consistently  with  reason, 
religion,  and  the  eternal  and  immutable  principles 
of  justice,  be  the  property  of  man.  We  hold  that 
whoever  retains  his  fellow-man  in  bondage  is  guilty 
of  a  grievous  wrong.  We  hold  that  a  mere  difference 
of  complexion  is  no  reason  why  any  man  should  be 
deprived  of  any  of  his  natural  rights,  or  subjected  to 
any  political  disability.  While  we  advance  these 
opinions  as  the  principles  on  which  we  intend  to  act, 


MASTER    STROKES.  139 

we  declare  that  we  will  not  operate  on  the  existing 
relations  of  society  by  other  than  peaceful  and  law 
ful  means,  and  that  we  will  give  no  countenance  to 
violence  or  insurrection." 

Twelve,  the  apostolic  number,  affixed  to  the  pre 
amble  and  constitution  their  names,  and  thus  formed 
the  first  Garrisonian  Society  for  the  abolition  of  slav 
ery  in  the  United  States.  The  names  of  these  apos 
tolic  men  it  is  well  to  keep  in  mind.  They  are  Wil 
liam  Lloyd  Garrison,  Oliver  Johnson,  Robert  B.  Hall, 
Arnold  Buffum,  William  J.  Snelling,  John  E.  Fuller, 
Moses  Thatcher,  Joshua  Coffin,  Stillman  B.  New- 
comb,  Benjamin  C.  Bacon,  Isaac  Knapp,  and  Henry 
K.  Stockton.  The  band  of  reformers,  their  work 
done,  had  risen  to  pass  out  of  the  low,  rude  room  into 
the  dark  night.  The  storm  was  still  raging.  They 
themselves  had  perchance  been  sobered  by  the  ex 
periences  of  the  evening.  They  had  gone  in  fifteen, 
they  were  returning  twelve.  And,  after  all,  what  had 
they  accomplished  ?  What  could  they  a  mere  handful 
do  to  abolish  slavery  entrenched  as  it  was  in  Church 
and  State  ?  It  is  possible  that  some  such  dim  dis 
couragement,  some  such  vague  misgiving  of  the 
futility  of  the  evening's  labor,  was  in  the  hearts  of 
those  wearied  men,  and  that  their  leader  divined  as 
much,  for  the  spirit  of  prophecy  fell  upon  Garrison 
just  as  they  "  were  stepping  out  into  the  storm  and 
darkness."  "We  have  met  to-night,"  he  said,  "in 
this  obscure  school-house  ;  our  numbers  are  few  and 
our  influence  limited  ;  but,  mark  my  prediction,  Fan- 
euil  Hall  shall  erelong  echo  with  the  principles  we 
have  set  forth.  We  shall  shake  the  nation  by  their 
mighty  power."  Then  the  little  band  dispersed  "into 


140  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  storm  and  darkness,"  carrying  with  them  these 
words  charged  with  hope  and  courage. 

The  fruitful  seed  of  organized  agitation  Garrison 
had  securely  planted  in  soil  fertile  and  ready  for  its 
reception.  Its  growth  constitutes  one  of  the  marvels 
of  reforms.  Within  a  few  brief  years  it  multiplied 
into  hundreds  and  thousands  of  societies  throughout 
the  free  States.  But  its  beginnings  were  small  and 
humble  enough.  "  The  objects  of  the  society  "  were 
according  to  the  second  article  of  the  constitution, 
"  to  endeavor  by  all  means  sanctioned  by  law,  human 
ity,  and  religion,  to  effect  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  United  States,  to  improve  the  character  and  con 
dition  of  the  free  people  of  color,  to  inform  and  cor 
rect  public  opinion  in  relation  to  their  situation  and 
rights,  and  to  obtain  for  them  equal  civil  and  politi 
cal  rights  and  privileges  with  the  whites."  The 
means  which  were  immediately  adopted  by  the  society 
for  the  accomplishment  of  these  objects  were  mainly 
three,  than  which  none  others  could  have  been 
more  effective.  These  were  petitioning  Congress  on 
the  subject  of  slavery.  The  publication  and  circula 
tion  of  anti-slavery  addresses  and  tracts,  and  the  em 
ployment  of  anti-slavery  agents,  "  in  obtaining  or 
communicating  intelligence,  in  the  publication  and 
distribution  of  tracts,  books,  or  papers,  or  in  the  exe 
cution  of  any  measure  which  may  be  adopted  to  pro 
mote  the  objects  of  the  society."  Such  was  the  simple 
but  unequaled  machinery  which  the  New  England 
.Anti-Slavery  Society  relied  upon  for  success  in  the 
war,  which  it  had  declared  against  American  slavery. 
The  executive  power  of  the  body,  and  the  operation 
of  its  machinery  were  lodged  in  a  board  of  managers 


MASTER   STROKES.  141 

of  which  Garrison's  was  the  leading,  originating 
mind.  The  society  started  out  bravely  in  the  use  of 
its  means  by  memorializing  Congress  for  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery,  "  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in 
the  Territories  of  the  United  States  under  their  juris 
diction,"  and  by  preparing  and  distributing  an  address 
in  maintenance  of  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emanci 
pation.  The  board  of  managers  set  the  machinery  in 
motion  as  far  and  as  fast  as  the  extremely  limited 
pecuniary  ability  of  the  society  would  permit.  The 
membership  was  not  from  the  rich  classes.  It  was 
Oliver  Johnson  who  wittily  remarked  that  not 
more  than  one  or  two  of  the  original  twelve, 
"  could  have  put  a  hundred  dollars  into  the  treasury 
without  bankrupting  themselves."  The  remark  was 
true,  and  was  quite  as  applicable  to  any  dozen  of  the 
new-comers  as  to  the  original  twelve.  The  society 
was  never  deficient  in  zeal,  bnt  it  was  certainly  sadly 
wanting  in  money.  And  money  was  even  to  such 
men  and  to  such  a  movement  an  important  factor  in 
revolutionizing  public  opinion. 

The  Liberator  was  made  the  official  organ  of  the 
society,  and  in  this  way  was  added  to  its  other  wea 
pons  that  of  the  press.  This  was  a  capital  arrange 
ment,  for  by  it  both  the  paper  and  the  society  were 
placed  under  the  direction  of  the  same  masterly 
guidance.  There  was  still  one  arrow  left  in  the  moral 
quiver  of  the  organization  to  reach  the  conscience  of 
the  people,  and  that  was  the  appointment  of  an  agent 
to  spread  the  doctrines  of  the  new  propaganda  of 
freedom.  In  August  the  board  of  managers,  meta 
phorically  speaking,  shot  this  arrow  by  making  Gar 
rison  the  agent  of  the  society  to  lecture  on  the  sub- 


142  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

iect  of  slavery  "  for  a  period  not  exceeding  three 
months."  This  was  the  first  drop  from  a  cloud  then 
no  bigger  than  a  hand,  but  which  was  to  grow  and 
spread  until,  covering  the  North,  was,  at  the  end  of 
a  few  short  years,  to  flood  the  land  with  anti-slavery 
agents  and  lecturers. 

Our  anti-slavery  agent  visited  portions  of  Massachu 
setts,  Maine,  and  Rhode  Island,  preaching  the  Aboli 
tion  gospel  in  divers  places,  and  to  many  people- 
notably  at  such  centers  of  population  as  Worcester, 
Providence,  Bangor,  and  Portland,  making  at  the 
latter  city  a  signal  conversion  to  his  cause  in  the  per 
son  of  General  Samuel  Fessenden,  distinguished  then 
as  a  lawyer,  and  later  as  the  father  of  William  Pitt 
Fessenden.  The  anti-slavery  schoolmaster  was 
abroad,  and  was  beginning  to  turn  New  England  and 
the  North  into  one  resounding  schoolhouse,  where  he 
sat  behind  the  desk  and  the  nation  occupied  the 
forms. 

So  effective  was  the  agitation  prosecuted  by  the 
society  during  the  first  year  of  its  existence  that  it 
was  no  empty  declaration  or  boast  of  the  Abolitionist, 
the  new  monthly  periodical  of  the  society,  that 
"probably,  through  its  instrumentality,  more  public 
addresses  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  appeals  in 
behalf  of  the  contemned  free  people  of  color,  have 
been  made  in  New  England,  during  the  past  year 
(1832)  than  were  elicited  for  forty  years  prior  to  its 
organization." 

The  introduction  of  the  principle  of  association 
into  the  slavery  agitation,  and  the  conversion  of  it 
into  an  organized  movement  was  an  achievement  of 
the  first  importance.  To  Garrison,  more  than  to  any 


MASTER   STROKES.  143 

man,  or  to  all  others  put  together,  belongs  the! 
authorship  of  this  immense  initiative.  He  it  was, 
who,  having  "  announced  the  principle,  arranged  the 
method  "  of  the  Abolition  movement.  The  marshal 
ing  of  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  New  England 
under  a  common  standard,  in  a  common  cause,  was 
a  master  stroke  of  moral  generalship.  This  master 
stroke  the  leader  followed  up  promptly  with  a  second 
stroke  not  less  masterly.  That  second  stroke  was  his 
"  Thoughts  on  African  Colonization,"  published  in 
the  summer  succeeding  the  formation  of  the  New 
England  Anti-Slavery  Society. 

Garrison's  championship  of  the  cause  of  the  slave 
had  started  with  strong  faith  in  the  efficacy  and  dis 
interestedness  of  the  colonization  scheme  as  an  instru 
ment  of  emancipation.  It  commanded,  therefore,  his 
early  support.  In  his  Park  Street  Church  address  he 
evinced  himself  in  earnest  sympathy  with  the  friends 
of  colonization.  But  after  his  arrival  in  Baltimore  a 
change  began  to  exhibit  itself  in  this  regard.  He 
began  to  qualify  his  confidence  in  its  utility;  began 
to  discern  in  it  influences  calculated  to  retard  general 
emancipation.  As  these  doubts  and  misgivings  arose 
within  him  he  expressed  them  frankly  in  the  Genius. 
Lundy  had  been  suspicious  of  the  pro-slavery  pur 
poses  or  interests  of  the  enterprise  for  many  years. 
He  could  not  reconcile  himself  to  the  significant  or, 
at  least,  singular  fact  of  so  many  slaveholders  being 
in  the  membership  and  the  offices  of  the  association. 
Then,  in  addition  to  this  lack  of  confidence  on  the 
part  of  Lundy  in  the  scheme,  Garrison  became  ac 
quainted,  for  the  first  time,  with  the  objects  of  the 
society's  philanthropy — the  class  of  free  people  of 


144  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

color.  He  found  that  these  people  were  not  at  all 
well  affected  to  the  society;  that  they  had  no  appre 
ciation  of  its  benevolent  intentions  in  respect  to  them 
selves.  He  found,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  were 
positively  embittered  toward  it  and  toward  its  designs 
for  their  removal  from  the  country  as  toward  their 
worst  enemy.  This  circumstance  was  undoubtedly 
a  poser  to  their  young  friend.  How  could  he  recon 
cile  this  deep-seated  and  widespread  disbelief  in  the 
purity  of  the  motives  of  the  Colonization  Society, 
with  the  simple  integrity  and  humanity  of  the  enter 
prise  itself  ?  Later,  his  acquaintance  with  such  repre 
sentatives  of  the  free  people  of  color  in  Philadelphia 
as  James  Forten  and  his  son-in-law,  Robert  Purvis, 
served  but  to  confirm  those  first  impressions  which 
he  received  in  Baltimore  from  the  Watkinses  and 
the  Greeners.  It  was  the  same  experience  in  New 
York  and  New  Haven,  in  Boston  and  Providence. 
He  learned  that  from  the  very  beginning,  in  the  year 
1817,  that  the  free  people  of  color  in  Richmond  and 
Philadelphia  had,  by  an  instinctive  knowledge  of 
threatened  wrong  and  danger,  met  and  resolved 
against  the  society  and  its  sinister  designs  upon 
themselves.  These  people  did  not  wish  to  leave  the 
country;  they  did  not  wish  to  be  sent  to  Liberia  ;  but 
the  society,  bent  on  doing  them  good  against  their 
will,  did  want  them  to  leave  the  country,  did  wan': 
to  send  them  to  Liberia. 

And  why  did  the  society  desire  to  remove  the  free 
people  of  color  out  of  the  country  ?  Was  it  from  mo- 
ives  of  real  philanthropy  ?  The  colored  people  were 
the  first  to  detect  its  spurious  humanity,  the  first  to  see 
through  the  artful  disguises  employed  to  impose  upon 


MASTER    STROKES.  145 

the  conscience  of  the  republic.  Their  removal,  they 
intuitively  divined,  was  proposed  not  to  do  their  race 
a  benefit,  but  rather  to  do  a  service  to  the  owners  of 
slaves.  These  objects  of  the  society's  pseudo-phil 
anthropy  had  the  sagacity  to  perceive  that,  practi 
cally,  their  expatriation  tended  to  strengthen  the 
chains  of  their  brethren  then  in  slavery;  for  if  the 
South  could  get  rid  of  its  free  colored  population,  its 
slave  property  would  thereby  acquire  additional 
security,  and,  of  consequence,  increased  market  value. 
Like  cause,  like  effect.  If  the  operation  of  the  col 
onization  scheme  was  decidedly  in  the  interest  of  the 
masters,  it  was  the  part  of  wisdom  to  conclude  as  the 
free  colored  people  did  actually  conclude  that  the 
underlying  motive,  the  hidden  purpose  of  the  society 
was  also  in  the  interest  of  the  masters. 

Garrison  did  not  reach  his  conclusions  as  to  the 
pro-slavery  character  and  tendency  of  the  society 
abruptly.  The  scales  fell  away  gradually  from  his 
eyes.  He  was  not  completely  undeceived  until  he 
had  examined  the  reports  of  the  society  and  found 
in  them  the  most  redundant  evidence  of  its  insincer 
ity  and  guilt.  It  was  out  of  its  own  mouth  that  he 
condemned  it.  When  he  saw  the  society  in  its  true 
character,  he  saw  what  he  must  do.  It  was  a  wolf  in 
sheep's  skin  running  at  large  among  the  good  shep 
herd's  flock,  and  inflicting  infinite  hurt  upon  his  poor 
sheep.  He  no  longer  wondered  at  the  horror  which 
the  colonization  scheme  inspired  among  the  free 
people  of  color.  They  were  right.  The  society  was 
their  dangerous  and  determined  enemy;  it  was  the 
bulwark  of  the  slave-holding  classes.  With  the 
instinct  of  a  great  purpose  he  resolved  to  carry  this 


146  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

powerful  bulwark  of  slavery  by  assault.  To  the 
attack  he  returned  week  after  week  in  the  Liberator. 
during  a  year  and  a  half.  Then  he  hurled  himself 
upon  it  with  all  his  guns,  facts,  arguments,  denuncia 
tions,  blowing  away  and  burning  up  every  shred  of 
false  covering  from  the  doctrines,  principles,  and 
purposes  of  the  society,  revealing  it  to  mankind  in 
its  base  and  monstrous  character. 

The  society's  one  motive  "  to  get  rid  of  the  free 
people  of  color,"  was  outrageous  enough,  but  this 
was  not  its  only  sin.  There  was  another  phase  to  the 
mischief  it  was  working,  which  lifted  it  to  the  rank  of 
a  great  sinner.  It  was  not  only  harmful  in  its  princi 
ples  and  purposes.  "  It  imperatively  and  effectually 
seals  up  the  lips,"  so  Garrison  accused  it,  "  of  a  vast 
number  of  influential  and  pious  men,  who,  for  fear  of 
giving  offence  to  those  slaveholders  with  whom  they 
associate,  and  thereby  leading  to  a  dissolution  of  the 
compact,  dare  not  expose  the  flagrant  enormities  of 
the  system  of  slavery,  nor  denounce  the  crime  of  hold 
ing  human  beings  in  bondage.  They  dare  not  lead 
to  the  onset  against  the  forces  of  tyranny  ;  and  if 
they  shrink  from  the  conflict,  how  shall  the  victory 
be  won  ?  I  do  not  mean  to  aver  that  in  their  ser 
mons,  or  addresses,  or  private  conversations,  they 
never  allude  to  the  subject  of  slavery  ;  for  they  do  so 
frequently,  or  at  least  every  Fourth  of  July.  But  my 
complaint  is  that  they  content  themselves  with  repre 
senting  slavery  as  an  evil — a  misfortune — a  calamity 
which  has  been  entailed  upon  us  by  former  genera 
tions, — and  not  as  an  individual  CRIME,  embracing  in  its 
folds,  robbery,  cruelty,  oppression,  and  piracy.  They 
do  not  identify  the  criminal ;  they  make  no  direct. 


MASTER   STROKES.  147 

pungent,  earnest  appeal  to  the  consciences  of  men- 
stealers."  This  was  a  damning  bill,  but  it  was  true 
in  every  particular  ;  and  the  evidence  which  Garri 
son  adduced  to  establish  his  charges  was  overwhelm 
ing  and  irrefragable. 

Nearly  fifty  years  afterward,  Elizur  Wright 
described  the  baleful  influence  of  the  society  upon 
the  humanity  and  philanthropy  of  the  nation.  "The 
humanity  and  philanthropy,"  he  said,  "  which  could 
not  otherwise  be  disposed  of,  was  ingeniously  seduced 
into  an  African  Colonization  Society,  whereby  all 
slaves  who  had  grown  seditious  and  troublesome  to 
their  masters  could  be  transplanted  on  the  pestifer 
ous  African  coast.  That  this  wretched  and  seemingly 
transparent  humbug  could  have  deluded  anybody, 
must  now  seem  past  belief  ;  but  I  must  with  shame 
confess  the  fact  that  I  for  one  was  deluded  by  it.  And 
that  fact  would  put  me  in  doubt  of  my  own  sanity  at 
the  time  if  I  did  not  know  that  high  statesmen,  pres 
idents  of  colleges,  able  editors,  and  that  most 
undoubted  of  firm  philanthropists,  Gerrit  Smith, 
shared  the  same  delusion.  Bible  and  missionary  soci 
eties  fellowshipped  that  mean  and  scurvy  device  of 
the  kidnapper,  in  their  holy  work.  It  was  spoken  of 
as  the  most  glorious  of  Christian  enterprises,  had  a 
monthly  magazine  devoted  to  itself,  and  taxed  about 
every  pulpit  in  the  land  for  an  annual  sermon  in  its 
favor." 

Such  was  the  Colonization  Society,  and  its 
entrenched  strength  in  the  piety  and  philanthropy  of 
the  country  at  the  moment  when  Garrison  published 
his  "Thoughts."  It  did  not  seem  possible  that  a  single 
arm  however  powerful,  was  able  to  start  its  roots  ; 


148  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

but,  directly  upon  the  launching  of  this  bolt,  the 
roots  of  the  Bohun  Upas,  as  Garrison  graphically 
designated  the  society,  were  seen  to  have  started,  and 
the  enterprise  appeared  blasted  as  by  fire.  The 
deluded  intellect  and  conscience  of  the  free  States 
saw  in  the  fierce  light,  which  the  pamphlet  of  the 
reformer  threw  upon  the  colonization  scheme  how 
shamefully  imposed  upon  they  had  been.  They  had 
believed  the  society  "the  most  glorious  of  Christian 
enterprises,"  and,  lo  !  it  stood  revealed  to  them  a 
"  scurvy  device  of  the  kidnapper."  The  effect  was 
extraordinary.  The  book  was  seized  and  its  con 
tents  devoured  by  some  of  the  finest  minds  of  the 
North.  Here  is  an  example  of  the  interest  which  it 
excited  and  the  converts  which  it  made  :  "  Last  Mon 
day  evening  was  our  Law  Club  meeting,  and  I  had 
the  great  satisfaction  of  hearing  Judge  Mellen,  our 
Chief-Justice,  say  he  had  read  your  '  Thoughts,'  was  a 
thorough  convert  to  your  views,  and  was  ready  to  do 
all  in  his  power  to  promote  them.  Mr.  Longfellow 
[father  of  Henry  W.  Longfellow]  was  present  also, 
and  with  equal  warmth  and  clearness  expressed  him 
self  also  in  favor  of  your  views.  This  is  getting  the 
two  first  men  in  the  State  for  talents  and  influence  in 
benevolent  effort.  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  head 
the  list  of  those  who  will  subscribe  to  form  here  an 
anti-slavery  society.  Mr.  Greenleaf  [Simon]  also, 
will  cordially  come  in,  and  I  need  not  say  he  is  one  of 
the  first  [men]  in  the  State,  for  his  character  is  known." 
This  quotation  is  made  from  a  letter  of  General  Sam 
uel  Fessenden,  of  Portland,  Me.,  to  Mr.  Garrison, 
dated  December  14.  1832.  Among  the  remarkable 
minds  which  the  "Thoughts  "  disillusioned  in  respect 


MASTER    STROKES.  149 

of  the  character  and  tendency  of  the  Colonization 
Society  were  Theodore  D.  Weld,  Elizur  Wright,  and 
Beriah  Green,  N.  P.  Rogers,  William  Goodell,  Joshua 
Leavitt,  Amos  A.  Phelps,  Lewis  Tappan,  and  James 
Miller  McKim. 

Garrison's  assertion  that  "  the  overthrow  of  the 
Colonization  Society  was  the  overthrow  of  slavery 
itself,"  was,  from  the  standpoint  of  a  student  of  his 
tory,  an  exaggerated  one.  We  know  now  that  the 
claim  was  not  founded  on  fact,  that  while  they  did 
stand  together  they  did  not  fall  together.  But  the 
position  was,  nevertheless,  the  strongest  possible  one 
for  the  anti-slavery  movement  to  occupy  at  the  time. 
In  the  disposition  of  the  pro-slavery  forces  on  the 
field  of  the  opening  conflict  in  1832,  the  colonization 
scheme  commanded  the  important  approaches  to  the 
citadel  of  the  peculiar  institution.  It  cut  off  the 
passes  to  public  opinion,  and  to  the  religious  and 
benevolent  influences  of  the  land.  To  reach  these  it 
was  necessary  in  the  first  place  to  dislodge  the  society 
from  its  coign  of  vantage,  its  strategical  point  in 
the  agitation.  And  this  is  precisely  what  "  The 
Thoughts  on  African  Colonization  "  did.  It  dislodged 
the  society  from  its  powerful  place  in  the  moral  sen 
timent  of  the  North.  The  capture  of  this  position 
was  like  the  capture  of  a  drawbridge,  and  the  precip 
itation  of  the  assaulting  column  directly  upon  the 
the  walls  of  a  beseiged  castle.  Within  the  pamphlet 
was  contained  the  whole  tremendous  enginery  of 
demolition.  The  anti-slavery  agent  and  lecturer 
thenceforth  set  it  up  wherever  he  spoke. 

To  him  it  was  not  only  the  catapult,  it  fur 
nished  the  missile-like  facts  and  arguments  for 


150  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

breaching  the  walls  of  this  pro-slavery  stronghold   as 
well. 

The  effect  of  the  publication  of  "  The  Thoughts  " 
in  this  country  was  extraordinary,  but  the  result  of 
their  circulation  in  England  was  hardly  less  so.  It 
produced  there  as  here  a  revolution  in  public  senti 
ment  upon  the  subject.  The  philanthropy  and  piety 
of  Great  Britain  had  generally  prior  to  the  unmask 
ing  of  the  society,  looked  upon  it  as  an  instrument  of 
Emancipation,  and  had  accordingly  given  it  their 
powerful  countenance,  and  not  a  little  material  sup 
port.  But  from  the  moment  that  the  pamphlet 
reached  England  a  decided  change  in  this  regard 
became  manifest.  The  society  made  fruitless  attempts 
to  break  the  force  of  the  blow  dealt  it  by  Garrison  in 
the  United  States.  But  wherever  its  emissaries 
traveled  "  The  Thoughts  "  confronted  and  confounded 
them.  So  that  Mr.  Garrison  was  warranted  in  saying 
that  "  all  that  sophistry  or  misrepresentation  could 
effect  to  overthrow  its  integrity  has  been  attempted 
in  vain.  The  work,  as  a  whole,  stands  irrefutable." 
The  attempts  made  to  maintain  its  hold  upon  the 
British  public  were  characterized  by  duplicity  and 
misrepresentation  beyond  anything  practiced  in 
America.  The  work  of  deceiving  the  philanthropy 
of  Great  Britain  was  conducted  by  the  emissary  of 
the  society,  Elliott  Cresson,  a  man  perfectly  fitted  to 
perform  his  part  with  remarkable  thoroughness  and 
industry.  Three  thousand  miles  away  from  America, 
and  practically  secure  from  contradiction,  he  went 
about  making  outrageous  statements  as  to  the  anti- 
slavery  character  and  purpose  of  the  colonization 
enterprise.  As  there  was  no  one  in  England  suffi- 


MASTER   STROKES.  151 

ciently  acquainted  with  the  operations  and  designs 
of  the  society,  he  was  enabled  to  falsify  facts,  to  con 
ceal  the  real  principles  of  the  scheme  with  astonish 
ing  audacity  and  activity.  He  approached  Wilber- 
force,  and  duped  Clarkson  into  a  belief  in  the  anti- 
slavery  aim  of  the  society. 

Unmasked  in  America,  the  time  had  come  when  the 
interests  of  the  Abolition  movement  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic  required  that  it  should  be  stripped  of  its 
disguises  on  the  other  side  also.  No  better  instru 
ment  could  be  selected  for  this  purpose  than  the  man 
who  had  torn  the  mask  from  its  features  in  the  United 
States.  And  so  in  March,  1833,  the  Board  of  Man 
agers  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society  noti 
fied  the  public  of  the  appointment  of  "  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  as  their  agent,  and  that  he  would  proceed  to 
England  as  soon  as  the  necessary  arrangements  can 
be  made,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  funds  to  aid 
in  the  establishment  of  the  proposed  MANUAL 
LABOR  SCHOOL  FOR  COLORED  YOUTH,  and 
of  disseminating  in  that  country  the  truth  in  relation 
to  American  slavery,  and  to  its  ally,  the  American 
Colonization  Society."  The  managers  offered  in 
justification  of  their  step  the  fact  that  "  Elliott  Cres- 
son  is  now  in  England  as  an  agent  for  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  and  that  he  has  procured  funds  to  a 
considerable  amount  by  representing  that  the  object 
of  the  society  is  *  to  assist  in  the  emancipation  of  all 
the  slaves  now  in  the  United  States.'  It  is  important 
that  the  philanthropists  of  that  country  should  be 
undeceived,  and  that  the  real  principles  and  designs 
of  the  Colonization  Society  should  be  there  made 
known," 


152  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

In  pursuance  of  this  mission  Garrison  sailed  from 
New  York,  May  2,  1833.  Twenty  days  later  he  landed 
in  Liverpool.  His  arrival  was  opportune,  for  all 
England  was  watching  the  closing  scene  in  the  drama 
of  West  India  Emancipation.  He  was  an  eye-witness 
of  the  crowning  triumph  of  the  English  Abolitionists, 
viz.,  the  breaking  by  Act  of  Parliament  of  the  fetters 
of  eight  hundred  thousand  slaves.  He  was  in  time  to 
greet  his  great  spiritual  kinsman,  William  Wilberforce, 
and  to  undeceive  him  in  respect  of  the  Colonization 
Society,  before  death  claimed  his  body,  and  to  fol 
low  him  to  his  last  resting-place  by  the  side  of  Pitt 
and  Fox,  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

A  highly  interesting  incident  of  this  visit  is  best 
told  in  Mr.  Garrison's  own  words.  He  said  : 

"  On  arriving  in  London  I  received  a  polite  invita 
tion  by  letter  from  Mr.  Buxton  to  take  breakfast  with 
him.  Presenting  myself  at  the  appointed  time,  when 
my  name  was  announced,  instead  of  coming  forward 
promptly  to  take  me  by  the  hand,  he  scrutinized  me 
from  head  to  foot,  and  then  inquired,  '  Have  I  the 
pleasure  of  addressing  Mr.  Garrison,  of  Boston,  in 
the  United  States  ? '  <  Yes,  sir,'  I  replied,  *  I  am  he  ; 
and  I  am  here  in  accordance  with  your  invitation.' 
Lifting  up  his  hands  he  exclaimed,  '  Why,  my  dear 
sir,  I  thought  you  were  a  black  man  !  And  I  have 
consequently  invited  this  company  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen  to  be  present  to  welcome  Mr.  Garrison, 
the  black  advocate  of  emancipation,  from  the  United 
States  of  America.'  I  have  often  said  that  that  is  the 
only  compliment  I  have  ever  had  paid  to  me  that  I  care 
to  remember  or  to  tell  of  !  For  Mr.  Buxton  had 
somehow  or  other  supposed  that  no  white  American 


MASTER   STROKES.  153 

could  plead  for  those  in  bondage  as  I  had  done,  and 
therefore  I  must  be  black  !  " 

Garrison  promptly  threw  down  his  challenge  to 
Elliott  Cresson,  offering  to  prove  him  an  impostor 
and  the  Colonization  Society  "  corrupt  in  its  princi 
ples,  proscriptive  in  its  measures,  and  the  worst 
enemy  of  the  free  colored  and  slave  population  of 
the  United  States."  From  the  first  it  was  apparent 
that  Cresson  did  not  mean  to  encounter  the  author 
of  the  "  Thoughts"  in  public  debate.  Even  a  mouse 
when  cornered  will  show  fight,  but  there  was  no 
manly  fight  in  Cresson.  Garrison  sent  him  a  letter 
containing  seven  grave  charges  against  his  society, 
and  dared  him  to  a  refutation  of  them  in  a  joint  dis 
cussion.  This  challenge  was  presented  four  times 
before  the  agent  of  colonization  could  be  pursuaded 
to  accept  it.  Garrison  was  bent  on  a  joint  public 
discussion  between  himself  and  Mr.  Cresson.  But 
Mr.  Cresson  was  bent  on  avoiding  his  opponent.  He 
skulked  under  one  pretext  or  another  from  vindicat 
ing  the  colonization  scheme  from  the  seven-headed 
indictment  preferred  against  it  by  the  agent  of  the 
New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society.  As  Cresson 
could  not  be  driven  into  a  joint  discussion  with  him 
there  was  nothing  left  to  Garrison  but  to  go  on  with 
out  him.  His  arraignment  and  exposure  of  the 
society  in  public  and  private  was  thorough  and  over 
whelming.  He  was  indefatigable  in  the  prosecution 
of  this  part  of  his  mission.  And  his  labor  was  not  in 
vain.  For  in  less  than  three  months  after  his  reach 
ing  England  he  had  rendered  the  Colonization 
Society  as  odious  there  as  his  "Thoughts  "  had  made 
it  in  America.  The  great  body  of  the  anti-slavery 


154  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

sentiment  in  Great  Britain  promptly  condemned  the 
spirit  and  object  of  the  American  Colonization  Soci 
ety.  Such  leaders  as  Buxton  and  Cropper  "  termed 
its  objects  diabolical;1'  while  Zachary  Macaulay, 
father  of  the  historian,  did  not  doubt  that  "  the 
unchristian  prejudice  of  color  (which  alone  has 
given  brith  to  the  Colonizatian  Society,  though 
varnished  over  with  other  more  plausible  pre 
tences,  and  veiled  under  a  profession  of  a  Christian 
regard  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests  of  the 
negro  which  is  belied  by  the  whole  course  of  its 
reasonings  and  the  spirit  of  its  measures)  is  so 
detestable  in  itself  that  I  think  it  ought  not  to  be 
tolerated,  but,  on  the  contrary,  ought  to  be  denounced 
and  opposed  by  all  humane,  and  especially  by  all 
pious  persons  in  this  country." 

The  protest  against  the  Colonization  Society 
"  signed  by  Wilberforce  and  eleven  of  the  most  dis 
tinguished  Abolitionists  in  Great  Britain,"  including 
Buxton,  Macaulay,  Cropper,  and  Daniel  O'Connell, 
showed  how  thoroughly  Garrison  had  accomplished 
his  mission.  The  protest  declares,  thanks  to  the 
teachings  of  the  agent  of  the  New  England  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  that  the  colonization  scheme  "  takes 
its  roots  from  a  cruel  prejudice  and  alienation  in  the 
whites  of  America  against  the  colored  people,  slave 
or  free.  This  being  its  source  the  effects  are  what 
might  be  expected  ;  that  it  fosters  and  increases  the 
spirit  of  caste,  already  so  unhappily  predominant ; 
that  it  widens  the  breach  between  the  two  races — 
exposes  the  colored  people  to  great  practical  persecu 
tion,  in  order  to  force  them  to  emigrate  ;  and,  finally, 
is  calculated  to  swallow  up  and  divert  that  feeling 


MASTER    STROKES.  I$5 

which  America,  as  a  Christian  and  free  country,  can 
not  but  entertain,  that  slavery  is  alike  incompatible 
with  the  law  of  God  and  with  the  well-being  of  man, 
whether  the  enslaver  or  the  enslaved."  The  solemn 
conclusion  of  the  illustrious  signers  of  this  mighty 
protest  was  that:  "  That  society  is,  in  our  estimation, 
not  deserving  of  the  countenance  of  the  British 
public."  This  powerful  instrument  fell,  as  Garrison 
wrote  at  the  time,  "like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the 
society."  The  damage  inflicted  upon  it  was  immense, 
irreparable.  The  name  of  Thomas  Clarkson  was 
conspicuous  by  its  absence  from  the  protest.  He 
could  not  be  induced  to  take  positive  ground  against 
the  society.  Garrison  had  visited  him  for  this  pur 
pose.  But  the  venerable  philanthropist,  who  was 
then  blind,  had  taken  position  on  neutral  ground,  and 
conld  not,  after  an  interview  of  four  hours,  be 
induced  to  abandon  it.  But,  fortunately,  potent  as 
the  name  of  Clarkson  would  have  been  in  opposition 
to  the  society,  it  was  not  indispensable  to  its  over 
throw  in  Great  Britain.  Garrison  had  won  to  his 
side  "all  the  staunch  anti-slavery  spirits,"-  while 
Cresson  was  able  to  retain  only  "  a  few  titled,  wealthy, 
high-pretending  individuals." 

The  success  of  the  mission  was  signal,  its  service  to 
the  movement  against  slavery  in  America  manifold. 
Garrison  writing  from  London  to  the  board  of 
managers,  summarized  the  results  produced  by  it  as 
follows  :  "  ist,  awakening  a  general  interest  among 
the  friends  of  emancipation  in  this  country,  and 
securing  their  efficient  cooperation  with  us  in  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  United  States  ;  2d,  dispelling 
the  mists  with  which  the  agent  of  the  American 


156  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Colonization  Society  has  blinded  the  eyes  of  benevo 
lent  men  in  relation  to  the  design  and  tendency  of 
the  society  ;  3d,  enlisting  able  and  eloquent  advo 
cates  to  plead  our  cause  ;  4th,  inducing  editors  of 
periodicals  and  able  writers  to  give  us  the  weight  of 
their  influence  ;  5th,  exciting  a  spirit  of  emulation 
in  the  redemption  of  our  slave  population  among  the 
numerous  female  anti-slavery  societies  ;  6th,  procur 
ing  a  large  collection  of  anti-slavery  documents, 
tracts,  pamphlets,  and  volumes,  which  will  furnish 
us  with  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  ammunition." 
These  were  indeed  some  of  the  grand  results  of 
laborious  weeks.  His  mission  was  ended.  He  was 
profoundly  grateful  to  the  good  God  for  its  success. 
The  great  movement  which  he  had  started  against 
oppression  in  his  own  country  was  awaiting  his 
aggressive  leadership.  He  did  not  tarry  abroad, 
therefore,  but  set  sail  from  London  August  18,  1833, 
for  New  York,  where  he  landed  six  weeks  later. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

COLORPHOBIA. 

GARRISON'S  Abolitionism  was  of  the  most  radical 
character.  It  went  the  whole  length  of  the  humanity 
of  the  colored  race,  and  all  that  that  implied.  They 
were,  the  meanest  members,  whether  bond  or  free, 
his  brothers  and  his  sisters.  From  the  first  he  re 
garded  them  as  bone  of  his  bone  and  blood  of  his 
blood,  as  children  with  him  of  a  common  father. 
Poor  and  enslaved  and  despised  to  be  sure,  wronged 
by  all  men,  and  contemned  by  all  men,  but  for  that 
very  reason  they  were  deserving  of  his  most  devoted 
love  and  labor.  He  never  looked  down  upon  them 
as  wanting  in  any  essential  respect  the  manhood 
which  was  his.  They  were  men  and  as  such 
entitled  to  immediate  emancipation.  They  were 
besides  entitled  to  equality  of  civil  and  political 
rights  in  the  republic,  entitled  to  equality  and  fra 
ternity  in  the  church,  equality  and  fraternity  at  the 
North,  equality  and  fraternity  always  and  everywhere. 
This  is  what  he  preached,  this  is  what  he  practiced. 
In  not  a  single  particular  was  he  ever  found  separ 
ating  himself  from  his  brother  in  black,  saying  to 
him  "thus  far  but  no  farther."  He  never  drew  the 
line  in  public  or  private  between  him  and  the  people 
whose  cause  was  his  cause — not  even  socially.  He 
went  into  their  homes  and  was  in  all  things  one  with 

(15?) 


158  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

them.  He  forgot  that  he  was  white,  forgot  that  they 
were  black,  forgot  the  pride  of  race,  forgot  the  stigma 
of  race  too  in  the  tie  of  human  kinship  which  bound 
him  to  them.  If  he  had  what  they  did  not  possess, 
the  rights  of  a  man,  the  civil  and  political  position  of 
a  man  in  the  State,  the  equality  of  a  brother  in  the 
church,  it  could  not  make  him  feel  better  than  they, 
it  filled  him  instead  with  a  righteous  sense  of  wrong, 
a  passionate  sympathy,  a  supreme  desire  and  deter 
mination  to  make  his  own  rights  the  measure  of 
theirs. 

"  I  lose  sight  of  your  present  situation,"  he  said 
in  his  address  before  Free  People  of  Color,  "and 
look  at  it  only  in  futurity.  I  imagine  myself  sur 
rounded  by  educated  men  of  color,  the  Websters,  and 
Clays,  and  Hamiltons,  and  Dwights,  and  Edwardses 
of  the  day.  I  listen  to  their  voice  as  judges  and 
representatives,  and  rulers  of  the  people — the  whole 
people."  This  glowing  vision  was  not  the  handiwork 
of  a  rhetorician  writing  with  an  eye  to  its  effect  upon 
his  hearers.  The  ardent  hope  of  the  reformer  was 
rather  the  father  of  the  golden  dream. 

This  practical  recognition  of  the  negro  as  a  man 
and  a  brother  was  the  exact  opposite  of  the  treatment 
which  was  his  terrible  lot  in  the  country.  Never  in 
all  history  was  there  a  race  more  shamefully  op 
pressed  by  a  dominant  race  than  were  the  blacks  by 
the  whites  of  America.  Held  as  slaves  in  the  South, 
they  were  stamped  as  social  outcasts  at  the  North. 
There  was  no  one,  however  mean  or  vicious,  who  if 
he  possessed  a  white  skin,  was  not  treated  more 
humanely  than  were  they.  In  the  most  enlightened 
of  the  free  States  they  were  discriminated  against  by 


COLORPHOBIA.  I$9 

public  laws  and  proscribed  by  public  opinion.     They 
were  in  a  word  pariahs  of  the  republic.     They   were 
shut  out  from  all  the  common  rights,  and  privileges 
and   opportunities   enjoyed   by    the    lowest    of    the 
favored  race.     They  were  denied  equality  in  the  pub 
lic  school.     The  principle  of  popular  education  had 
no  application  to  a  class  which  was  not  of  the  people, 
a  class  which  the  common  sentiment  of  a  Christian 
nation  had  placed  at  the  zero  point  of  political  values, 
and  meant  to  keep  forever  at  that  point.     Entrance 
to  the  trades  were  barred  to  the  blacks.     What  did 
they  want  with  such  things  where  there  was  no  white 
trash  so  forgetful  of  his  superiority  as  to  consent  to 
work  by  their  side.     Nowhere  were  they  allowed  the 
same  traveling  accommodations  as  white  men,  and  they 
were  everywhere  excluded  from  public  inns.     Neither 
wealth   nor   refinement   was   able   to   procure    them 
admission   into   other   than   "  Jim   Crow    cars."      If 
heart-sick  at  the  outrages  by  every  one  heaped  upon 
them  they  turned    for   consolation   to  the  house  of 
God,  even  there  the  spirit  of  proscription  and  caste 
prejudice  met  them,  and  pointed  to  the  "  negro  pew  " 
where  they  sat  corraled  from  the  congregation  as  if 
they  had  no  equal   share  in  the  salvation  which  the 
pulpit  preached.     Everywhere   the   white   man   had 
the  right  of  way,  even  on  the  highway  to  heaven  ! 
And  in  no  place  was  the  negro  made  to  feel  the  pre 
judice   against   his    color    more    gallingly    than    in 
churches  arrogating  the  name  of  Christian.     He  had 
no  rights  on  earth,  he  had  none  in  trying  to  get  into  the 
bosom  of  the  founder  of  Christianity,  which  the  white 
sinners  or  saints  were  bound  to  respect.     Even  the 
liberty-loving   Quakers    of    Philadelphia    were    not 


l6o  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

above  the  use  of  the  "  negro  seat "  in  their  meetings 
Somehow  they  discerned  that  there  was  a  great  gul:' 
separating  in  this  life  at  least  the  white  from  the 
black  believer.  That  God  had  made  of  one  blood  al 
nations  of  men,  St.  Paul  had  taught,  but  the  Amen 
can  church  had  with  one  accord  in  practice  drawr 
the  line  at  the  poor  despised  colored  man.  He  was 
excluded  from  ecclesiastical  equality,  for  he  was 
different  from  other  men  for  whom  Christ  died.  The 
Bible  declared  that  man  was  made  but  a  little  lower 
than  the  angels  ;  the  American  people  in  their  State 
and  Church  supplemented  this  sentiment  by  acts 
which  plainly  said  that  the  negro  was  made  but  a 
little  above  the  brute  creation. 

Here  are  instances  of  the  length  to  which  the 
prejudice  against  color  carried  the  churches  in  those 
early  years  of  the  anti-slavery  movement  : 

In  1830,  a  colored  man,  through  a  business  transac 
tion  with  a  lessee  of  one  of  the  pews  in  Park  Street 
Church,  came  into  possession  of  it.  Thinking  to 
make  the  best  use  of  his  opportunity  to  obtain  relig 
ious  instruction  for  himself  and  family  fiom  this 
fountain  of  orthodoxy,  the  black  pew-holder  betook 
him,  one  Sunday,  to  "  Brimstone  Corner."  But  he 
was  never  permitted  to  repeat  the  visit.  "  Brimstone 
Corner  "  could  not  stand  him  another  Lord's  day, 
and  thereupon  promptly  expelled  him  and  his  family 
out  of  its  midst.  The  good  deacons  displayed  their 
capacity  for  shielding  their  flock  from  consorting 
with  "  niggers,"  by  availing  themselves  of  a  techni 
cality  to  relet  the  pew  to  a  member  who  was  not 
cursed  with  a  dark  skin.  On  another  Lord's  day,  in 
another  stronghold  of  Boston  Christianity,  Oliver 


COLORPHOBIA.  l6l 

Johnson  ran  the  battery  of  "  indignant  frowns  of  a 
large  number  of  the  congregation"  for  daring  to  take 
a  fellow-Christian  with  a  skin  not  colored  like  his 
own  into  his  pew,  to  listen  to  Dr.  Beecher.  The 
good  people  of  the  old  Baptist  meeting-house,  at 
Hartford,  Conn.,  had  evidently  no  intention  of  dis 
turbing  the  heavenly  calm  of  their  religious  devo 
tions  by  so  much  as  a  thought  of  believers  with  black 
faces  ;  for  by  boarding  up  the  "  negro  pews  "  in  front 
and  leaving  only  peep-holes  for  their  occupants,  they 
secured  themselves  from  a  sight  of  the  obnoxious 
creatures,  while  Jehovah,  who  is  no  respecter  of  per 
sons,  was  in  His  holy  place.  Incredible  as  it  may 
seem,  a  church  in  the  town  of  Stoughton,  Mass., 
to  rid  itself  of  even  a  semblance  of  Christian  fellow 
ship  and  equality  with  a  colored  member,  did  actu 
ally  cut  the  floor  from  under  the  colored  member's 
pew  ! 

These  cruel  and  anti-Christian  distinctions  in  the 
churches  affected  Garrison  in  the  most  painful  man 
ner.  He  says  : 

"  I  never  can  look  up  to  these  wretched  retreats 
for  my  colored  brethren  without  feeling  my  soul 
overwhelmed  with  emotions  of  shame,  indignation, 
and  sorrow." 

He  had  such  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  mem 
bers  of  this  despised  caste  in  Boston  and  Philadel 
phia,  and  other  cities,  and  appreciated  so  deeply  their 
intrinsic  worth  and  excellence,  as  men  and  brethren, 
that  he  felt  their  insults  and  injuries  as  if  they  were 
done  to  himself.  He  knew  that  beneath  many  a 
dark  skin  he  had  found  real  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
and  he  knew  how  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  to 


l62  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

them  was  the  American  prejudice  against  their  color. 
In  1832,  just  after  a  visit  to  Philadelphia,  where  he 
was  the  guest  of  Robert  Purvis,  and  had  seen  mucii 
of  the  Fortens,  he  wrote  a  friend  : 

"I  wish  you  had  been  with  me  in  Philadelphia  to 
see  what  I  saw,  to  hear  what  I  heard,  and  to  experi 
ence  what  I  felt  in  associating  with  many  colored 
families.  There  are  colored  men  and  women,  young 
men  and  young  ladies,  in  that  city,  who  have  few 
superiors  in  refinement,  in  moral  worth,  and  in  all 
that  makes  the  human  character  worthy  of  admira 
tion  and  praise." 

Strange  to  say,  notwithstanding  all  their  merits 
and  advancement,  the  free  people  of  color  received 
nothing  but  disparagement  and  contempt  from  emi 
nent  divines  like  Dr.  Leonard  W.  Bacon  and  the  em 
issaries  of  the  Colonization  Society.  They  were  "  the 
most  abandoned  wretches  on  the  face  of  the  earth"  ; 
they  were  "  all  that  is  vile,  loathsome,  and  danger 
ous"  ;  they  were  "  more  degraded  and  miserable  than 
the  slaves,"  and  ad  infinitum  through  the  whole  gamut 
of  falsehood  and  traduction.  It  was  human  for  the 
American  people  to  hate  a  class  whom  they  had  so 
deeply  wronged,  and  altogether  human  for  them  to 
justify  their  atrocious  treatment  by  blackening  before 
the  world  the  reputation  of  the  said  class.  That  this 
was  actually  done  is  the  best  of  all  proofs  of  the 
moral  depravity  of  the  nation  which  slavery  had 
wrought. 

Garrison's  vindication  of  the  free  people  of  color 
in  Exeter  Hall,  London,  on  July  13,  1833,  from  this 
sort  of  detraction  and  villification  is  of  historic  value: 

"  Sir,"  said  he,  addressing  the  chair,  "  it  is  not  pos- 


COLORPHOBIA.  163 

sible  for  the  mind  to  coin,  or  the  tongue  to  utter 
baser  libels  against  an  injured  people.  Their  condi 
tion  is  as  much  superior  to  that  of  the  slaves  as  the 
light  of  heaven  is  more  cheering  than  the  darkness 
of  the  pit.  Many  of  their  number  are  in  the  most 
affluent  circumstances,  and  distinguished  for  their 
refinement,  enterprise,  and  talents.  They  have  flour 
ishing  churches,  supplied  by  pastors  of  their  own 
color,  in  various  parts  of  the  land,  embracing  a  large 
body  of  the  truly  excellent  of  the  earth.  They  have 
public  and  private  libraries.  They  have  their  tem 
perance  societies,  their  debating  societies,  their  moral 
societies,  their  literary  societies,  their  benevolent  soci 
eties,  their  saving  societies,  and  a  multitude  of  kin 
dred  associations.  They  have  their  infant  schools, 
their  primary  and  high  schools,  their  sabbath  schools, 
and  their  Bible  classes.  They  contribute  to  the  support 
of  foreign  and  domestic  missions  to  Bible  and  tract 
societies,  etc.  In  the  city  of  Philadelphia  alone  they 
have  more  than  fifty  associations  for  moral  and  intel 
lectual  improvement.  In  fact,  they  are  rising  up, 
even  with  mountains  of  prejudice  piled  upon  them, 
with  more  than  Titanic  strength,  and  trampling  be 
neath  their  feet  the  slanders  of  their  enemies.  A 
spirit  of  virtuous  emulation  is  pervading  their  ranks, 
from  the  young  child  to  the  gray  head.  Among  them 
is  taken  a  large  number  of  daily  and  weekly  news 
papers,  and  of  literary  and  scientific  periodicals,  from 
the  popular  monthlies  up  to  the  grave  and  erudite 
North  American  and  American  Quarterly  Reviews.  I 
have  at  this  moment,  to  my  own  paper,  the  Liberator, 
one  thousand  subscribers  among  this  people;  and, 
from  an  occupancy  of  the  editorial  chair  for  more 


164  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

than  seven  years,  I  can  testify  that  they  are  more 
punctual  in  their  payments  than  any  five  hundred 
white  subscribers  whose  names  I  ever  placed  indis 
criminately  in  my  subscription  book." 

There  was  an  earnest  desire  on  the  part  of  the  free 
people  of  color  to  raise  the  level  of  their  class  in  the 
Union.  At  a  convention  held  by  them  in  Philadel 
phia,  in  1831,  they  resolved  upon  a  measure  calcu 
lated  to  make  up,  to  some  extent,  the  deprivations 
which  their  children  were  suffering  by  being  excluded 
from  the  higher  schools  of  learning  in  the  land.  So 
they  determined  to  establish  a  college  on  the  manual- 
labor  system  for  the  education  of  colored  youth. 
They  appealed  for  aid  to  their  benevolent  friends, 
and  fixed  upon  New  Haven  as  the  place  to  build  their 
institution.  Arthur  Tappan,  with  customary  benefi 
cence,  "  purchased  several  acres  of  land,  in  the  south 
erly  part  of  the  city,  and  made  arrangements  for  the 
erection  of  a  suitable  building,  and  furnishing  it  with 
needful  supplies,  in  a  way  to  do  honor  to  the  city 
and  country." 

The  school,  however,  was  never  established  owing 
to  the  violent  hostility  of  the  citizens,  who  with  the 
Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Common  Council  resolved  in 
public  meeting  to  "resist  the  establishment  of  the 
proposed  college  in  this  place  by  every  lawful  means." 

The  free  people  of  color  were  derided  because  of 
their  ignorance  by  their  persecutors,  but  when  they 
and  their  friends  proposed  a  plan  to  reduce  that  igno 
rance,  their  persecutors  bitterly  opposed  its  execu 
tion.  New  Haven  piety  and  philanthropy,  as  embod 
ied  in  the  Colonization  Society,  were  not  bent  on  the 
education  of  this  class  but  on  its  emigration  to  the 


COLORPHOBIA.  165 

coast  of  Africa  solely.  In  such  sorry  contradictions 
and  cruelties  did  American  prejudice  against  color 
involve  American  Christianity  and  humanity. 

This  outrage  was  perpetrated  in  1831.  Two  years 
afterward  Connecticut  enacted  altogether  the  most 
shameful  crime  in  her  history.  There  lived  in  the 
year  1833,  in  the  town  of  Canterbury,  in  that  State, 
an  accomplished  young  Quaker  woman,  named  Pru 
dence  Crandall.  Besides  a  superior  education,  she 
possessed  the  highest  character  And  this  was  well; 
for  she  was  the  principal  of  the  Female  Boarding 
School  located  in  that  town.  The  institution  was,  in 
1833,  at  the  beginning  of  its  third  year,  and  in  a  flour 
ishing  condition.  While  pursuing  her  vocation  of  a 
teacher,  Miss  Crandall  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
Liberator  through  a  "  nice  colored  girl,"  who  was  at 
service  in  the  school.  Abhorring  slavery  from  child 
hood,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  earnestness  of  the 
Liberator  exerted  an  immediate  and  lasting  influence 
upon  the  sympathies  of  the  young  principal.  The 
more  she  read  and  the  more  she  thought  upon  the 
subject  the  more  aroused  she  became  to  the  wrongs 
of  which  her  race  was  guilty  to  the  colored  people. 
She,  too,  would  lend  them  a  helping  hand  in  their 
need.  Presently  there  came  to  her  a  colored  girl 
who  was  thirsting  for  an  education  such  as  the  Can 
terbury  Boarding  School  for  young  ladies  was  dis 
pensing  to  white  girls.  This  was  Miss  Crandall's 
opportunity  to  do  something  for  the  colored  people, 
and  she  admitted  the  girl  to  her  classes.  But  she 
had  no  sooner  done  so  than  there  were  angry  objec 
tions  to  the  girl's  remaining. 

"  The  wife  of  an  Episcopal  clergyman  who  lived  in 


l66  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  village,"  Miss  Crandall  records,  "  told  me  that  if 
I  continued  that  colored  girl  in  my  school  it  would 
not  be  sustained." 

She  heroically  icf  used  to  turn  the  colored  pupil  out 
of  the  school,  and  thereby  caused  a  most  extraordinary 
exhibition  of  Connecticut  chivalry  and  Christianity. 

Seeing  how  matters  stood  with  her  in  these  circum 
stances,  Prudence  Crandall  conceived  the  remarkable 
purpose  of  devoting  her  school  to  the  education  of 
colored  girls  exclusively.  She  did  not  know  whether 
her  idea  was  practicable,  and  so  in  her  perplexity  she 
turned  for  counsel  to  the  editor  of  the  Liberator.  She 
went  to  Boston  for  this  purpose,  and  there,  at  the  old 
Marlboro'  Hotel,  on  Washington  street,  on  the  even 
ing  of  January  29,  1833,  she  discussed  this  business 
with  Mr.  Garrison.  This  visit  and  interview  con 
firmed  the  brave  soul  in  her  desire  to  change  her 
school  into  one  for  the  higher  education  of  colored 
girls.  It  was  expected  that  a  sufficient  number  of 
such  pupils  could  be  obtained  from  well-to-do  colored 
families  in  cities  like  Boston,  Providence,  and  New 
York  to  assure  the  financial  success  of  the  enterprise. 
When  Miss  Crandall  had  fully  matured  her  plans  in 
the  premises  she  announced  them  to  the  Canterbury 
public.  But  if  she  had  announced  that  she  con 
templated  opening  a  college  for  the  spread  of  con 
tagious  diseases  among  her  townspeople,  Canterbury 
could  not  possibly  have  been  more  agitated  and 
horrified.  Every  door  in  the  village  was  slammed  in 
her  face.  She  was  denounced  in  town  meetings,  and 
there  was  not  chivalry  enough  to  cause  a  single 
neighbor  to  speak  in  her  defence.  Samuel  J.  May 
had  to  come  -from  an  adjoining  town  for  this  pur- 


COLORPHOBIA.  167 

pose.  "But,"  says  Mr.  May,  "  they  would  not  hear 
me.  They  shut  their  ears  and  rushed  upon  me  with 
threats  of  personal  violence." 

As  there  was  nothing  in  the  statutes  of  Connecti 
cut  which  made  the  holding  of  such  a  school  as  that 
of  Miss  Crandall's  illegal,  the  good  Canterbury  folk 
procured  the  passage  of  a  hasty  act  through  the  Leg 
islature,  which  was  then  in  session,  "  making  it  a 
penal  offence,  punishable  by  fine  and  imprisonment, 
for  any  one  in  that  State  keeping  a  school  to  take  as 
his  or  her  pupils  the  children  of  colored  people  of 
other  States."  But  the  heart  of  the  young  Quaker 
woman  was  the  heart  of  a  heroine.  She  dared  to 
disregard  the  wicked  law,  was  arrested,  bound  over 
for  trial,  and  sent  to  jail  like  a  common  malefactor. 
It  was  no  use,  persecution  could  not  cow  the  noble 
prisoner  into  submission  to  the  infamous  statute.  In 
her  emergency  truth  raised  up  friends  who  rallied 
about  her  in  the  unparalleled  contest  which  raged 
around  her  person  and  her  school.  There  was  no 
meanness  or  maliciousness  to  which  her  enemies  did 
not  stoop  to  crush  and  ruin  her  and  her  cause.  "The 
newspapers  of  the  county  and  of  the  adjoining  coun 
ties  teemed  with  the  grossest  misrepresentations,  and 
the  vilest  insinuations,"  says  Mr.  May,  "  against  Miss 
Crandall,  her  pupils,  and  her  patrons  ;  but  for  the 
most  part,  peremptorily  refused  us  any  room  in  their 
columns  to  explain  our  principles  and  purposes,  or  to 
refute  the  slanders  they  were  circulating."  Four  or 
five  times  within  two  years  she  was  forced  into  court 
to  defend  her  acts  against  the  determined  malignity 
of  men  who  stood  high  in  the  Connecticut  Church 
and  State.  The  shops  in  the  town  boycotted  her,  the 


168  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

churches  closed  their  doors  to  her  and  her  pupils. 
Public  conveyances  refused  to  receive  them,  and  phy 
sicians  to  prescribe  for  them.  It  is  said  that  the 
heroic  soul  was  cut  off  from  intercourse  with  her  own 
family,  in  the  hope  doubtless  that  she  would  the 
sooner  capitulate  to  the  negro-hating  sentiment  of 
her  neighbors.  But  firm  in  her  resolve  the  fair 
Castellan  never  thought  of  surrendering  the  citadel 
of  her  conscience  at  the  bidding  of  iniquitous  power. 
Then,  like  savages,  her  foes  defiled  with  the  excre 
ment  of  cattle  the  well  whence  the  school  drew  its 
supply  of  water,  attacked  the  house  with  rotten  eggs 
and  stones,  and  daubed  it  with  filth.  This  drama  of 
diabolism  was  fitly  ended  by  the  introduction  of  the 
fire  fiend,  and  the  burning  of  the  detestable  building 
devoted  to  the  higher  education  of  "  niggers." 
Heathenism  was,  indeed,  outdone  by  Canterbury 
Christianity. 

The  circumstances  of  this  outrage  kindled  Garri 
son's  indignation  to  the  highest  pitch.  Words  were 
inadequate  to  express  his  emotions  and  agony  of 
soul.  In  the  temper  of  bold  and  clear-eyed  leader 
ship  he  wrote  George  W.  Benson,  his  future  brother- 
in-law,  "  we  may  as  well,  first  as  last,"  meet  this  pre 
scriptive  spirit,  and  conquer  it.  We — f.  e.,  all  the 
friends  of  the  cause — must  make  this  a  common  con 
cern.  The  New  Haven  excitement  has  furnished  a 
bad  precedent — a  second  must  not  be  given  or  I  know 
not  what  we  can  do  to  raise  up  the  colored  popula 
tion  in  a  manner  which  their  intellectual  and  moral 
necessities  demand.  In  Boston  we  are  all  excited  at 
the  Canterbury  affair.  Colonizationists  are  rejoicing 
and  Abolitionists  looking  sternly."  Like  a  true  gen- 


COLORPHOBIA.  169 

eral  Garrison  took  in  from  his  Liberator  outlook  the 
entire  field  of  the  struggle.  No  friend  of  the  slave, 
however  distant,  escaped  his  quick  sympathy  or 
ready  reinforcements.  To  him  the  free  people  of  color 
turned  for  championship,  and  to  the  Liberator  as  a 
mouthpiece.  The  battle  for  their  rights  and  for  the 
the  freedom  of  their  brethren  in  the  South  advanced 
apace.  Everywhere  the  army  of  their  friends  and  the 
army  of  their  foes  were  in  motion,  and  the  rising 
storm  winds  of  justice  and  iniquity  were  beginning 
"  to  bellow  through  the  vast  and  boundless  deep  "  of 
a  nation's  soul. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

AGITATION    AND    REPRESSION. 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON'S  return  from  his  Eng 
lish   mission  was   signalized  by  two   closely  related 
events,  viz.,  the    formation    of  the    New    York    City 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  the  appearance  of  the  first 
of   a  succession  of  anti-slavery  mobs  in  the  North. 
The  news  of  his  British  successes  had  preceded  him, 
and  prepared  for  him  a  warm  reception  on  the  part  of 
his  pro-slavery  countrymen.     For   had  he    not    with 
malice   prepense   put   down    the   "  most   glorious  of 
Christian  enterprises,"  and  rebuked  his  own  country 
in  the  house  of  strangers  as  recreant  to  freedom  ?  And 
when  O'Connell  in  Exeter  Hall  pointed  the  finger  of 
scorn  at  America  and  made  her  a  by-word  and  a  hiss 
ing  in  the  ears  of  Englishmen,  was  it  not  at  a  meet 
ing  got  up  to  further  the  designs  of  this  "  misguided 
young  gentlemen  who  has  just  returned  from   Eng 
land  whither  he  has  recently  been  for  the  sole  pur 
pose  as  it  would  seem  [to  the  Commercial  Advertiser} 
of  traducing  the  people  and  institutions  of  his  own 
country."     Had  he  not  caught  up  and  echoed  back 
the  hissing  thunder  of  the  great  Irish  orator  : — Shame 
on  the  American  Slaveholders  !     Base  wretches    should 
we   shout   in  chorus — base  wretches,  how  dare   you 
profane  the  temple  of  national  freedom,  the  sacred 

(.70) 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  171 

fane  of  Republican  rites,  with  the  presence  and  the 
sufferings  of  human  beings  in  chains  and  slavery  !  " 

The  noise  of  these  treasons  on  a  foreign  shore, 
"  deafening  the  sound  of  the  westerly  wave,  and  rid 
ing  against  the  blast  as  thunder  goes,"  to  borrow 
O'Connell's  graphic  and  grandiose  phrases,  had 
reached  the  country  in  advance  of  Mr.  Garrison.  The 
national  sensitiveness  was  naturally  enough  stung  to 
the  quick.  Here  is  a  pestilent  fellow  who  is  not 
content  with  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  Union  with 
his  new  fanaticism,  but  must  needs  presume  to  make 
the  dear  Union  odious  before  the  world  as  well.  And 
his  return,  what  is  it  to  be  but  the  signal  for  increased 
agitation  on1  the  slavery  question.  The  conquering 
hero  comes  and  his  fanatical  followers  salute  him 
forthwith  with  a  ^new  anti-slavery  society,  which 
means  a  fresh  instrument  in  his  hands  to  stir  up  strife 
between  the  North  and  the  South.  "  Are  we  tamely 
to  look  on,  and  se*e  this  most  dangerous  species  of 
fanaticism  extending  itself  through  society  ?  "  shrieked 
on  the  morning  of  Mr.  Garrison's  arrival  in  New  York 
Harbor,  the  malignant  editor  of  the  Courier  and 
Enquirer. 

The  pro-slavery  and  lawless  elements  of  the  city 
were  not  slow  to  take  the  cue  given  by  metropolitan 
papers,  and  to  do  the  duty  of  patriots  upon  their 
country's  enemies.  Arthur  Tappen  and  his  anti-slav 
ery  associates  outwitted  these  patriotic  gentlemen, 
who  attended  in  a  body  at  Clinton  Hall  on  the  even 
ing  of  October  2,  1833,  to  perform  the  aforesaid  duty 
of  patriots,  while  the  objects  of  their  attention  were 
convened  at  Chatham  Street  Chapel  and  organizing 
their  new  fanaticism.  The  mob  flew  wide  of  its 


172  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

mark  a  second  time,  for  when  later  in  the  evening  t 
began  a  serenade  more  expressive  than  musical  before 
the  entrance  to  the  little  chapel  on  Chatham  street 
the  members  of  the  society  "  folded  their  tents  like 
the  Arabs  and  as  silently  stole  away."  The  Abolition 
ists  accomplished  their  design  and  eluded  their  ene 
mies  at  the  same  time.  But  the  significance  of  the 
riotous  demonstration  went  not  unobserved  by  then 
and  their  newly  arrived  leader.  It  was  plain  from 
that  night  that  if  the  spirit  of  Abolitionism  had  risen, 
the  spirit  of  persecution  had  risen  also. 

A  somewhat  similar  reception  saluted  the  reforme~ 
in  Boston.  An  inflammatory  handbill  announced  to 
his  townsmen  his  arrival.  "  The  true  American,  has 
returned,  alias  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  '  Negro 
Champion,'  from  his  disgraceful  mission  to  the  Brit 
ish  metropolis,"  etc.,  etc.,  and  wound  up  its  artful  list 
of  lies  with  the  malignant  suggestion  that  "  He  is  now 
in  your  power — do  not  let  him  escape  you,  but  go 
this  evening,  armed  with  plenty  of  tar  and  feathers 
and  administer  to  him  justice  at  his  abode  at  No.  9 
Merchant's  Hall,  Congress  street."  In  obedience  to 
this  summons,  a  reception  committee  in  the  shape  of 
"  a  dense  mob,  breathing  threatenings  which  forboded 
a  storm,"  did  pay  their  respects  to  the  "  true  Ameri 
can  "  in  front  of  his  abode  at  the  Liberator  office. 
Fortunately  the  storm  passed  over  without  breaking 
that  evening  on  the  devoted  head  of  the  "  Negro 
Champion."  But  the  meaning  of  the  riotous  demon 
stration  it  was  impossible  to  miss.  Like  the  mob  in 
New  York  it  clearly  indicated  that  the  country  was 
on  the  outer  edge  of  an  area  of  violent  disturbances 
on  the.  subject  of  slavery. 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  173 

The  peril  which  Garrison  had  twice  escaped  was 
indeed  grave,  but  neither  it  nor  the  certainty  of 
future  persecution  could  flutter  or  depress  his  spirits. 
"  For  myself,"  he  wrote  subsequently  in  the  Liberator, 
"  I  am  ready  to  brave  any  danger  even  unto  death. 
I  feel  no  uneasiness  either  in  regard  to  my  fate  or  to 
the  success  of  the  cause  of  Abolition.  Slavery  must 
speedily  be  abolished  ;  the  blow  that  shall  sever  the 
chains  of  the  slaves  may  shake  the  nation  to  its 
center — may  momentarily  disturb  the  pillars  of  the 
Union — but  it  shall  redeem  the  character,  extend  the 
influence,  establish  the  security,  and  increase  the 
prosperity  of  our  great  republic."  It  was  not  the 
rage  and  malice  of  his  enemies  which  the  brave  soul 
minded,  but  the  ever-present  knowledge  of  human 
beings  in  chains  and  slavery  whom  he  must  help. 
Nothing  could  separate  him  from  his  duty  to  them, 
neither  dangers  present  nor  persecutions  to  come. 
The  uncertainty  of  life  made  him  only  the  more 
zealous  in  their  behalf.  The  necessity  of  doing,  doing, 
and  yet  ever  doing  for  the  slave  was  plainly  pressing 
deep  like  thorns  into  his  thoughts.  "  I  am  more  and 
more  impressed;"  he  wrote  a  friend  a  few  weeks  later, 
"  I  am  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  importance 
of  '  working  whilst  the  day  lasts.'  If  '  we  all  do  fade 
as  a  leaf,'  if  we  are  l  as  the  sparks  that  fly  upward,' 
if  the  billows  of  time  are  swiftly  removing  the  sandy 
foundation  of  our  life,  what  we  intend  to  do  for  the 
captive,  and  for  our  country,  and  for  the  subjugation 
of  a  hostile  world,  must  be  done  quickly.  Happily 
'our  light  afflictions  are  but  for  a  moment.'" 

This  yearning  of  the  leader  for  increased  activity 
in  the  cause  of  immediate  emancipation  was  shared 


174  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

by  friends  and  disciples  in  different  portions  of  the 
country.  Few  and  scattered  as  were  the  Abolition 
ists,  they  so  much  the  more  needed  to  band  together 
for  the  great  conflict  with  a  powerful  and  organized 
evil.  This  evil  was  organized  on  a  national  scale, 
the  forces  of  righteousness  which  were  rising  against 
it,  if  they  were  ever  to  overcome  it  and  rid  the  land 
of  it,  had  needs  to  be  organized  on  a  national  seal* 
also.  Garrison  with  the  instinct  of  a  great  reformer 
early  perceived  the  immense  utility  of  a  national 
anti-slavery  organization  for  mobilizing  the  whole 
available  Abolition  sentiment  of  the  free  States  in  a 
moral  agitation  of  national  and  tremendous  pro 
portions. 

He  had  not  long  to  wait  after  his  return  from 
England  before  this  desire  of  his  soul  was  satisfied. 
It  was  in  fact  just  a  month  afterward  that  a  call  for 
a  convention  for  the  formation  of  the  American  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  went  out  from  New  York  to  the  friends 
of  immediate  emancipation  throughout  the  North.  As 
an  evidence  of  the  dangerously  excited  state  of  the 
popular  mind  on  the  subject  of  slavery  there  stands 
in  the  summons  the  significant  request  to  delegates 
to  regard  the  call  as  confidential.  The  place  fixed 
upon  for  holding  the  convention  was  Philadelphia, 
and  the  time  December  4,  1833. 

Garrison  bestirred  himself  to  obtain  for  the  con 
vention  a  full  representation  of  the  friends  of  free 
dom.  He  sent  the  call  to  George  W.  Benson,  at 
Providence,  urging  him  to  spread  the  news  among 
the  Abolitionists  of  his  neighborhood  and  to  secure 
the  election  of  a  goodly  number  of  delegates  by  the 
society  in  Rhode  Island.  He  forthwith  bethought 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  175 

him  of  Whittier  on  his  farm  in  Haverhill,  and 
enjoined  his  old  friend  to  fail  not  to  appear  in  Phila 
delphia.  But  while  the  young  poet  longed  to  go  to 
urge  upon  his  Quaker  brethren  of  that  city  "  to  make 
their  solemn  testimony  against  slavery  visible  over 
the  whole  land — to  urge  them,  by  the  holy  memories 
of  Woolman  and  Benezet  and  Tyson  to  come  up  as 
of  old  to  the  standard  of  Divine  Truth,  though  even 
the  fires  of  another  persecution  should  blaze  around 
them,"  he  feared  that  he  would  not  be  able  to  do  so. 
The  spirit  was  surely  willing  but  the  purse  was 
empty,  "  as  thee  know,"  he  quaintly  adds, "our  farm 
ing  business  does  not  put  much  cash  in  our  pockets." 
The  cash  he  needed  was  generously  supplied  by 
Samuel  E.  Sewall,  and  Whittier  went  as  a  delegate 
to  the  convention  after  all.  The  disposition  on  the 
part  of  some  of  the  poorer  delegates  was  so  strong  to 
be  present  at  the  convention  that  not  even  the  lack 
of  money  was  sufficient  to  deter  them  from  setting 
out  on  the  expedition.  Two  of  them,  David  T.  Kim- 
ball  and  Daniel  E.  Jewett,  from  Andover,  Mass.,  did 
actually  supplement  the  deficiencies  of  their  pocket-, 
books  by  walking  to  New  Haven,  the  aforesaid 
pocket-books  being  equal  to  Jhe  rest  of  the  journey 
from  that  point. 

About  sixty  delegates  found  their  way  to  Philadel 
phia  and  organized  on  the  morning  of  December  4th, 
in  Adelphi  Hall,  the  now  famous  convention.  It  was 
a  notable  gathering  of  apostolic  spirits — "  mainly 
composed  of  comparatively  young  men,  some  in 
middle  age,  and  a  few  beyond  that  period."  They 
had  come  together  from  ten  of  the  twelve  free  States, 
which  fact  goes  to  show  the  rapid,  the  almost  epi- 


176  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

demic-like  spread  of  Garrisonian  Abolitionism  through 
the  North.  The  Liberator  was  then  scarcely  three 
years  old,  and  its  editor  had  not  until  the  second  day 
of  the  convention  attained  the  great  age  of  twenty- 
eight  !  The  convention  of  1787  did  not  comprise 
more  genuine  patriotism  and  wisdom  than  did  this 
memorable  assembly  of  American  Abolitionists.  It 
was  from  beginning  to  end  an  example  of  love  to 
God  and  love  to  men,  of  fearless  scorn  of  injustice 
and  fearless  devotion  to  liberty.  Not  one  of  those 
three  score  souls  who  made  up  the  convention,  who 
did  not  take  his  life  in  his  hand  by  reason  of  the 
act.  It  was  not  the  love  of  fame  surely  which  brought 
them  over  so  many  hundreds  of  miles,  which  made  so 
many  of  them  endure  real  physical  privation,  which 
drew  all  by  a  common,  an  irresistible  impulse  to  con 
gregate  for  an  unpopular  purpose  within  reach  of 
the  teeth  and  the  claws  of  an  enraged  public 
opinion. 

The  convention,  as  one  man  might  have  said  with 
the  single-minded  Lundy,  "  My  heart  was  deeply 
grieved  at  the  gross  abomination  ;  I  heard  the  wail 
of  the  captive  ;  I  felt  his  pang  of  distress  ;  and  the 
iron  entered  my  soul."  The  iron  of  slavery  had 
indeed  entered  the  soul  of  every  member  of  the  con 
vention.  It  was  the  divine  pang  and  pity  of  it  which 
collected  from  the  East  and  from  the  West  this  re 
markable  body  of  reformers. 

The  story  of  how  they  had  to  find  a  president  illus 
trates  the  contemporary  distrust  and  antagonism, 
which  the  anti-slavery  movement  aroused  among  the 
men  of  standing  and  influence.  Knowing  in  what 
bad  odor  they  were  held  by  the  community,  and  anx- 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  177 

ious  only  to  serve  their  cause  in  the  most  effective 
manner,  the  members  of  the  convention  hit  upon  the 
plan  of  asking  some  individual  eminent  for  his  res 
pectability  to  preside  over  their  deliberations,  and 
thereby  disarm  the  public  suspicions  and  quiet  the 
general  apprehensions  felt  in  respect  of  the  incen 
diary  character  of  their  intention.  So  in  pursuance 
of  this  plan  six  of  their  number  were  dispatched  on 
the  evening  of  December  3d  to  seek  such  a  man.  But 
the  quest  of  the  committee  like  that  of  Diogenes 
proved  a  failure.  After  two  attempts  and  two 
repulses  the  committee  were  not  disposed  to  invite 
the  humiliation  of  a  third  refusal  and  must  have  lis 
tened  with  no  little  relief,  to  this  blunt  summary  of 
the  situation  by  Beriah  Green,  who  was  one  of  the 
six.  "  If  there  is  not  timber  amongst  ourselves," 
quoth  Green,  "  big  enough  to  make  a  president  of, 
let  us  get  along  without  one,  or  go  home  and  stay 
there  until  we  have  grown  up  to  be  men."  The  next 
day  Green  was  chosen,  and  established  in  a  manner 
never  to  be  forgotten  by  his  associates  that  the  con 
vention  did  possess  "  timber  big  enough  to  make  a 
president  of." 

Narrow  as  were  the  circumstances  of  many  of  the 
members,  the  convention  was  by  no  means  destitute 
of  men  of  wealth  and  business  prominence.  Such  were 
the  Winslows,  Isaac  and  Nathan,  of  Maine,  Arnold 
Buffum,  of  Massachusetts,  and  John  Rankin  and 
Lewis  Tappan,  of  New  York.  Scholarship,  talents, 
and  eloquence  abounded  among  the  delegates.  Here 
there  was  no  lack,  no  poverty,  but  extraordinary  suf 
ficiency,  almost  to  redundancy.  The  presence  of  the 
gentler  sex  was  not  wanting  to  lend  grace  and  pictur- 


178  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

esqueness  to  the  occasion.  The  beautiful  and  benig 
nant  countenance  of  Lucretia  Mott  shed  over  the 
proceedings  the  soft  radiance  of  a  pure  and  regnant 
womanhood  ;  while  the  handful  of  colored  delegates 
with  the  elegant  figure  of  Robert  Purvis  at  their  head, 
added  pathos  and  picturesqueness  to  ihe  personnel  of 
the  convention.  Neither  was  the  element  of  danger 
wanting  to  complete  the  historic  scene.  Its  presence 
was  grimly  manifest  in  the  official  intimation  that 
evening  meetings  of  the  convention  could  not  be  pro 
tected,  by  the  demonstrations  of  popular  ill-will  which 
the  delegates  encountered  on  the  streets,  by  the 
detachment  of  constabulary  guarding  the  entrance  to 
Adelphi  Hall,  and  by  the  thrillingly  significant  precau 
tion  observed  by  the  delegates  of  sitting  with  locked 
doors.  Over  the  assembly  it  impended  cruel  and 
menacing  like  fate.  Once  securely  locked  within  the 
hall,  the  Abolitionists  discreetly  abstained  from  leav 
ing  it  at  noon  for  dinner,  well  knowing  how  small  a 
spark  it  takes  to  kindle  a  great  fire.  It  was  foolhardy 
to  show  themselves  nnnecessarily  to  the  excited 
crowds  in  the  streets,  and  so  mindful  that  true  cour 
age  consisteth  not  in  recklessness,  they  despatched 
one  of  their  number  for  crackers  and  cheese,  which 
they  washed  down  with  copious  draughts  of  cold 
water.  But  they  had  that  to  eat  and  drink  besides, 
whereof  the  spirits  of  mischief  without  could  not 
conceive. 

The  grand  achievement  of  the  convention  was,  of 
course,  the  formation  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery 
Society,  but  the  crown  of  the  whole  was  unquestion 
ably  the  Declaration  of  Sentiments.  The  composi 
tion  of  this  instrument  has  an  interesting  history.  It 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  179 

seems  that  the  delegates  considered  that  the  remark 
able  character  of  the  movement  which  they  were 
launching  upon  the  wide  sea  of  national  attention 
demanded  of  them  an  expression  altogether  worthy 
of  so  momentous  an  undertaking.  The  adoption  of 
a  constitution  for  this  purpose  was  felt  to  be  inade 
quate.  A  constitution  was  indispensable,  but  some 
other  expression  was  necessary  to  give  to  their  work 
its  proper  proportion  and  importance.  Such  a  man 
ifestation  it  was  deemed  meet  to  make  in  the  form  of 
a  declaration  of  sentiments.  A  committee  was  accord 
ingly  appointed  to  draft  the  declaration.  This  com 
mittee  named  three  of  its  number,  consisting  of  Gar 
rison,  Whittier,  and  Samuel  J.  May  to  draw  up  the 
document.  The  sub-committee  in  turn  deputed  Gar 
rison  to  do  the  business. 

Mr.  May  has  told  in  his  Recollections  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  Conflict,  how  he  and  Whittier  left  their  friend 
at  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  agreeing  to  call  at  eight 
the  following  morning  and  how  on  their  return  at 
the  appointed  hour  they  found  Garrison  with  shutters 
closed  and  lamps  burning,  penning  the  last  para 
graph  of  the  admirable  document.  He  has  told  how 
they  three  read  it  over  together  two  or  three  times, 
making  some  slight  alterations  in  it,  and  how  at  nine 
o'clock  the  draft  was  laid  by  them  before  the  whole 
committee.  The  author  of  the  recollections  has  left 
a  graphic  account  of  its  effect  upon  the  convention. 
"  Never  in  my  life,"  he  says,  "  have  I  seen  a  deeper 
impression  made  by  words  than  was  made  by  that 
admirable  document  upon  all  who  were  present. 
After  the  voice  of  the  reader  had  ceased  there  was 
silence  for  several  minutes.  Our  hearts  were  in  per- 


l8o  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

feet  unison.  There  was  but  one  thought  with  us  all. 
Either  of  the  members  could  have  told  what  the 
whole  convention  felt.  We  felt  that  the  word  had 
just  been  uttered  which  would  be  mighty,  through 
God,  to  the  pulling  down  of  the  strongholds  of 
slavery."  Such  was  the  scene  at  the  first  reading  of 
the  Declaration  of  Sentiments,  Dr.  Atlee,  the  reader. 
The  effect  at  its  final  reading  was,  if  possible,  even 
more  dramatic  and  eloquent.  Whittier  has  depicted 
this  closing  and  thrilling  scene.  He  has  described 
how  Samuel  J.  May  read  the  declaration  for  the  last 
time.  "  His  sweet,  persuasive  voice  faltered  with 
the  intensity  of  his  emotions  as  he  repeated  the 
solemn  pledges  of  the  concluding  paragraphs.  After 
a  season  of  silence,  David  Thurston  of  Maine,  rose  as 
his  name  was  called  by  one  of  the  secretaries  and 
affixed  his  name  to  the  document.  One  after  another 
passed  up  to  the  platform,  signed,  and  retired  in 
silence.  All  felt  the  deep  responsibility  of  the  occa 
sion — the  shadow  and  forecast  of  a  life-long  struggle 
rested  upon  every  countenance." 

The  effects,  so  electrical  and  impressive,  which  fol 
lowed  the  reading  of  the  declaration  were  not 
disproportioned  to  its  merits,  for  it  was  an  instru 
ment  of  singular  power,  wisdom,  and  eloquence. 
Indeed,  to  this  day,  more  than  half  a  century  after  it 
was  written  it  still  has  virtue  to  quicken  the  breath 
and  stir  the  pulses  of  a  sympathetic  reader  out  of 
their  normal  time.  A  great  passion  for  freedom  and 
righteousness  irradiates  like  a  central  light  the  whole 
memorable  document.  It  begins  by  a  happy  refer 
ence  to  an  earlier  convention,  held  some  fifty-seven 
years  before  in  the  same  place,  and  which  adopted  a 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  l8l 

declaration  holding  "  that  all  men  are  created  equal  ; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain 
inalienable  rights  ;  that  among  these  are  life,  LIBERTY, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  ;  "  and  how  at  the  trum 
pet-call  of  its  authors  three  millions  of  people  rushed 
to  arms  "deeming  it  more  glorious  to  die  instantly 
as  free  men,  than  desirable  to  live  one  hour  as  slaves"; 
and  how,  though  few  in  number  and  poor  in  re 
sources  those  same  people  were  rendered  invincible 
by  the  conviction  that  truth,  justice,  and  right  were 
on  their  side.  But  the  freedom  won  by  the  men  of 
1776  was  incomplete  without  the  freedom  for  which 
the  men  of  1833  were  striving.  The  authors  of  the 
new  declaration  would  not  be  inferior  to  the  authors 
of  the  old  "  in  purity  of  motive,  in  earnestness  of 
zeal,  in  decision  of  purpose,  intrepidity  of  action,  in 
steadfastness  of  faith,  in  sincerity  of  spirit."  Unlike 
the  older  actors,  the  younger  had  eschewed  the 
sword,  the  spilling  of  human  blood  in  defence  of 
their  principles.  Theirs  was  a  moral  warfare,  the 
grappling  of  truth  with  error,  of  the  power  of  love 
with  the  inhumanities  of  the  nation.  Then  it  glances 
at  the  wrongs  which  the  fathers  suffered,  and  at  the 
enormities  which  the  slaves  were  enduring.  The 
"  fathers  were  never  slaves,  never  bought  and  sold 
like  cattle,  never  shut  out  from  the  light  of  knowledge 
and  religion,  never  subjected  to  the  lash  of  brutal 
taskmasters,"  but  all  these  woes  and  more,  an  unim 
aginable  mountain  of  agony  and  misery,  was  the 
appalling  lot  of  the  slaves  in  the  Southern  States. 
The  guilt  of  this  nation,  which  partners  such  a  crime 
against  human  nature,  "  is  unequaled  by  any  other 
on  earth,"  and  therefore  it  is  bound  to  instant  repent- 


182  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

ance,  and  to  the  immediate  restitution  of  justice  to 
the  oppressed. 

The  Declaration  of  Sentiments  denies  the  right  of 
man  to  hold  property  in  a  brother  man,  affirms  the 
identity  in  principle  between  the  African  slave  trade 
and  American  slavery,  the  imprescriptibility  of  the 
rights  of  the  slaves  to  liberty,  the  nullity  of  all  laws 
which  run  counter  to  human  rights,  and  the  grand 
doctrine  of  civil  and  political  equality  in  the  Repub 
lic,  regardless  of  race  and  complexional  differences. 
It  boldly  rejects  the  principle  of  compensated  eman 
cipation,  because  it  involves  a  surrender  of  the  posi 
tion  that  man  cannot  hold  property  in  man  ;  because 
slavery  is  a  crime,  and  the  master  is  not  wronged  by 
emancipation  but  the  slaves  righted,  restored  to 
themselves  ;  because  immediate  and  general  emanci 
pation  would  only  destroy  nominal,  not  real,  property, 
the  labor  of  the  slaves  would  still  remain  to  the 
masters  and  doubled  by  the  new  motives  which  free 
dom  infuses  into  the  breasts  of  her  children  ;  and, 
finally  because,  if  compensation  is  to  be  given  at  all  it 
ought  to  be  given  to  those  who  have  been  plundered 
of  their  rights.  It  spurns  in  one  compact  paragraph 
the  pretensions  of  the  colonization  humbug  as  "delu 
sive,  cruel,  and  dangerous." 

But  lofty  and  uncompromising  as  were  the  moral 
principles  and  positions  of  the  declaration,  it  never 
theless  recognized  with  perspicuity  of  vision  the 
Constitutional  limitations  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  in  relation  to  slavery.  It  frankly  conceded 
that  Congress  had  no  right  to  meddle  with  the  evil  in 
any  of  the  States.  But  wherever  the  national  juris 
diction  reached  the  general  government  was  bound 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  183 

to  interfere  and  suppress  the  traffic  in  human  flesht 
It  was  the  duty  of  Congress,  inasmuch  as  it  possessed 
the  power,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  the  National  Territories,  along  the  coast 
and  between  the  States.  The  free  States  are  the 
particeps  criminis  of  the  slave  States.  They  are  living 
under  a  pledge  of  their  tremendous  physical  force  to 
rivet  the  manacles  of  chattel  slavery  upon  millions  in 
the  South  ;  they  are  liable  at  any  instant  to  be  called 
on  under  the  Constitution  to  suppress  a  general 
insurrection  of  the  slaves.  This  relationship  is  crimi 
nal,  "  is  full  of  danger,  IT  MUST  BE  BROKEN  UP." 

So  much  for  the  views  and  principles  of  the 
declaration,  now  for  the  designs  and  measures  as 
enumerated  therein  :  "  We  shall  organize  anti-slavery 
societies,  if  possible,  in  every  city,  town  and  village 
in  our  land. 

"  We  shall  send  forth  agents  to  lift  up  the  voice  of 
remonstrance,  of  warning,  of  entreaty,  and  of  rebuke. 

"  We  shall  circulate,  unsparingly  and  extensively, 
anti-slavery  tracts  and  periodicals. 

"  We  shall  enlist  the  pulpit  and  the  press  in  the 
cause  of  the  suffering  and  the  dumb. 

"  We  shall  aim  at  a  purification  of  the  churches 
from  all  participation  in  the  guilt  of  slavery. 

"  We  shall  encourage  the  labor  of  freemen  rather 
than  that  of  slaves,  by  giving  a  preference  to  their 
productions  ;  and 

"  We  shall  spare  no  exertions  nor  means  to  bring 
the  whole  nation  to  speedy  repentance." 

The  instrument  closes  by  pledging  the  utmost  of 
its  signers  to  the  overthrow  of  slavery — "  come  what 
may  to  our  persons,  our  interests,  or  our  reputations 


184  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

— whether  we  live  to  witness  the  triumph  of  Liberty, 
Justice,  and  Humanity,  or  perish  untimely  as  mar 
tyrs  in  this  great,  benevolent,  and  holy  cause."  Twin 
pledge  it  was  to  that  ancestral,  historic  one  made  in 
1776  :  "  And  for  the  support  of  this  declaration,  with 
a  firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  DIVINE  PROVI 
DENCE,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other,  our  lives, 
our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor." 

Whittier  has  predicted  for  the  Declaration  of 
Sentiments  an  enduring  fame  :  "  It  will  live,"  he 
declares,  "  as  long  as  our  national  history."  Samuel 
J.  May  was  equally  confident  that  this  "  Declaration  of 
the  Rights  of  Man,"  as  he  proudly  cherished  it,  would 
"  live  a  perpetual,  impressive  protest  against  every 
form  of  oppression,  until  it  shall  have  given  place  to 
that  brotherly  kindness  which  all  the  children  of  the 
common  Father  owe  to  one  another  "  As  a  particu 
lar  act  and  parchment-roll  of  high  thoughts  and 
resolves,  highly  expressed,  it  will  not,  I  think,  attain 
to  the  immortality  predicted  for  it.  For  as  such  it 
has  in  less  than  two  generations  passed  almost 
entirely  out  of  the  knowledge  and  recollection  of 
Americans.  But  in  another  sense  it  is  destined  to 
realize  all  that  has  been  foreshadowed  for  it  by  its 
friends.  Like  elemental  fire  its  influence  will  glow 
and  flame  at  the  center  of  our  national  life  long  after 
as  a  separate  and  sovereign  entity  it  shall  have  been 
forgotten  by  the  descendants  of  its  illustrious  author 
and  signers. 

The  convention  was  in  session  three  days,  and  its 
proceedings  were  filled  with  good  resolutions  and 
effective  work.  Arthur  Tappan  was  elected  Presi 
dent  of  the  national  organization,  and  William  Green, 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  185 

Jr.,  Treasurer.  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  was  chosen  Secre 
tary  of  Domestic  Correspondence,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  Secretary  of  Foreign  Correspondence,  and 
Abraham  L.  Cox  Recording  Secretary.  Besides 
these  officers  there  were  a  Board  of  Management  and 
a  number  of  Vice-Presidents  selected.  For  three 
days  the  hearts  of  the  delegates  burned  within  them 
toward  white-browed  Duty  and  the  master,  Justice, 
who  stood  in  their  midst  and  talked  with  divine 
accents  to  their  spirits  of  how  men  were  enslaved 
and  cruelly  oppressed  by  men,  their  own  brothers, 
and  how  the  cry  of  these  bondmen  came  up  to 
them  for  help.  And  with  one  accord  there  fell  upon 
the  delegates  a  pang  and  pity,  an  uplifting,  impelling 
sense  of  '  woe  unto  us '  if  we  withhold  from  our 
brethren  in  bonds  the  help  required  of  us.  This 
rising  tide  of  emotion  and  enthusiasm  gathering 
mass  at  each  sitting  of  the  convention,  culminated 
during  the  several  readings  of  the  Declaration  of 
Sentiments.  And  when  on  the  third  day  Beriah 
Green  brought  the  congress  to  a  close  in  a  valedic 
tory  address  of  apostolic  power  and  grandeur,  and 
with  a  prayer  so  sweet,  so  fervent,  and  strong  as  to 
melt  all  hearts,  the  pent-up  waters  of  the  reform  was 
ready  to  hurl  themselves  into  an  agitation  the  like 
of  which  had  never  before,  nor  has  since,  been  seen 
or  felt  in  the  Union.  Thenceforth  freedom's  little 
ones  were  not  without  great  allies,  who  were  "  ex 
ultations,  agonies,  and  love,  and  man's  unconquerable 
mind." 

Everywhere  the  flood  of  Abolitionism  burst  upon 
the  land,  everywhere  the  moral  deluge  spread  through 
the  free  States.  Anti-slavery  societies  rose  as  it  were, 


1 86  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

out  of  the  ground,  so  rapid,  so  astonishing  were  their 
growth  during  the  year  following  the  formation  of 
the  national  society.  In  nearly  every  free  State  they 
had  appeared  doubling  and  quadrupling  in  number, 
until  new  societies  reached  in  that  first  year  to  up 
wards  of  forty.  Anti-slavery  agents  and  lecturers 
kept  pace  with  the  anti-slavery  societies.  They  began 
to  preach,  to  remonstrate,  to  warn,  entreat,  and  re 
buke  until  their  voices  sounded  like  the  roar  of  many 
waters  in  the  ears  of  the  people.  Wherever  there  was 
a  school-house,  a  hall,  or  a  church,  there  they  were, 
ubiquitous,  irrepressible,  a  cry  in  the  wilderness  of  a 
nation's  iniquity.  Anti-slavery  tracts  and  periodicals 
multiplied  and  started  from  New  York  and  Boston 
in  swarms,  and  clouds,  the  thunder  of  their  wings 
were  as  the  thunder  of  falling  avelanches  to  the  guilty 
conscience  of  the  country.  There  was  no  State, 
city,  town,  or  village  in  the  Republic  where  their 
voice  was  not  heard. 

The  Rev.  Amos  A  Phelp's  "  Lectures  on  Slavery 
and  Its  Remedy;  "  "the  Rev.  J.  D.  Paxton's  '  Letters 
on  Slavery '  ;  the  Rev.  S.  J.  May's  letters  to  Andrew 
T,  Judson,  '  The  Rights  of  Colored  People  to  Educa 
tion  Vindicated ';  Prof.  Elizur  Wright,  Jr's,  '  Sin  of 
Slavery  and  Its  Remedy  ; '  Whittier's  'Justice  and  Ex 
pediency  '  ;  and,  above  all,  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child's 
startling  *  Appeal  in  favor  of  that  class  of  Americans 
called  Africans '  were  the  more  potent  of  the  new 
crop  of  writings  betokening  the  vigor  of  Mr.  Garrison's 
Propagandism,"  says  that  storehouse  of  anti- 
slavery  facts  the  "  Life  of  Garrison  "  by  his  children. 
Swift  poured  the  flood,  widespread  the  inundation  of 
anti-slavery  publications,  Money,  although  not  com- 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  187 

mensurate  with  the  vast  wants  of  the  crusade,  came 
in  in  copious  and  generous  streams.  A  marvelous 
munificence  characterized  the  charity  of  wealthy 
Abolitionists.  The  poor  gave  freely  of  their  mite, 
and  the  rich  as  freely  of  their  thousands.  Something 
of  the  state  of  simplicity  and  community  of  goods 
which  marked  the  early  disciples  of  Christianity 
seemed  to  have  revived  in  the  hearts  of  this  band  of 
American  reformers.  A  spirit  of  renunciation,  of 
self-sacrifice,  of  brotherly  kindness,  of  passionate  love 
of  righteousness,  of  passionate  hatred  of  wrong,  of 
self-consecration  to  truth  and  of  martyrdom  lifted 
the  reform  to  as  high  a  moral  level  as  had  risen 
any  movement  for  the  betterment  of  mankind  in  any 
age  of  the  world. 

The  resolutions  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Sentiment,  to  enlist  the  pulpit  in  the  cause  of  the 
suffering  and  dumb,  and  to  attempt  the  purification 
of  the  churches  from  all  participation  in  the  guilt  of 
slavery,  encountered  determined  opposition  from  the 
pulpits  and  the  churches  themselves.  The  Abolition 
ists  were  grieved  and  indignant  at  the  pro-slavery 
spirit  which  pulpits  and  churches  displayed.  But 
what  happened  was  as  we  now  look  back  at  those 
proceedings,  an  inevitable  occurrence,  a  foregone 
conclusion.  The  pulpits  were  only  representative  of 
the  religion  of  the  pews,  and  the  pews  were  occupied 
by  the  same  sort  of  humanity  that  toil  and  spin  and 
haggle  over  dollars  and  cents  six  out  of  every  seven 
days.  They  have  their  selfish  and  invested  interests, 
fixed  social  notions,  relationships,  and  prejudices, 
which  an  episode  like  Sunday,  churches,  and  sermons 
do  not  seriously  affect.  Indeed,  Sunday,  churches, 


1 88  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

and  sermons  constitute  an  institution  of  modern  civil 
ization  highly  conservative  of  invested  interests, 
fixed  social  notions,  relationships,  and  prejudices. 
Who  advances  a  new  idea,  a  reformatory  movement, 
disturbs  the  status  quo,  stirs  up  the  human  bees  in 
that  great  hive  called  society,  and  that  lesser  one 
called  the  church,  and  he  must  needs  expect  to  have 
the  swarm  about  his  head. 

This  was  precisely  what  happened  in  the  case  of 
the  anti-slavery  movement.  It  threatened  the  then 
status  quo  of  property  rights,  it  attacked  the  fixed 
social  notions,  relationships,  and  prejudices  of  the 
South  and  of  the  North  alike.  The  revolution  which 
this  new  idea  involved  in  the  slave  States,  was  of  the 
most  radical  character,  going  down  to  a  complete  re 
construction  of  their  entire  social  system.  At  once 
the  human  hornets  were  aroused,  and  in  these  circum 
stances,  the  innocent  and  the  guilty  were  furiously 
beset.  Because  the  new  idea  which  disturbed  the 
South  had  originated  in  the  North,  the  wrath  of  the 
South  rose  hot  against  not  the  authors  of  the  new 
idea  alone  but  against  the  people  of  that  section  as 
well.  But  this  sectional  unpleasantness  endangered 
the  stability  of  the  Union,  and  menaced  with  obstruc 
tions  and  diversions  the  golden  stream  of  Northern 
traffic,  dollars,  and  dividends.  This  was  intolerable, 
and  forthwith  the  Apiarian  brotherhood  of  the  free 
States  put  together  their  heads  with  those  of  the  slave 
States  to  attack,  sting,  and  utterly  abolish  the  new 
idea,  and  the  new  idea's  supporters.  The  Northern 
churches  were,  of  course,  in  the  Northern  brother 
hood.  And  when  the  new  fanaticism  threatened  the 
financial  stability  of  the  pews,  the  pulpits  instead  of 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  189 

exerting  themselves  in  behalf  of  the  suffering  and 
dumb  slaves,  exerted  themselves  to  preserve  the  pros 
perity  of  the  pews  by  frowning  down  the  friends  of 
the  slaves.  They  were  among  the  first  to  stone  the 
new  idea  and  its  fiery  prophets.  "  Away  with  them! " 
shouted  in  chorus  pulpit  and  pews.  Sad  ?  yes,  but 
alas  !  natural,  too.  These  men  were  not  better  nor 
worse  than  the  average  man.  They  were  the  average 
men  of  their  generation,  selfish,  narrow,  material, 
encrusted  in  their  prejudices  like  snails  in  their  shells, 
struggling  upward  at  a  snail's  pace  to  the  larger  life, 
with  its  added  sweetness  and  humanities,  but  experi 
encing  many  a  discomfiture  by  the  way  from  those 
foul  and  triple  fiends,  the  World,  the  Flesh,  and  the 
Devil. 

Nowhere  in  the  churches  was  their  opposition  to 
the  Abolition  movement  more  persistent  and  illiberal 
than  in  the  theological  seminaries,  whence  the  pulpits 
drew  their  supplies  of  preachers.  Like  master,  like 
servant,  these  institutions  were  indentured  to  the  pub 
lic,  and  reflected  as  in  a  mirror  the  body  and  pressure 
of  its  life  and  sentiment.  That  a  stream  cannot  rise 
higher  than  its  source,  although  a  theological  stream, 
found  remarkable  demonstration  in  the  case  of  Lane 
Seminary.  Here  after  the  publication  of  the 
"Thoughts  on  Colonization,"  and  the  formation  of 
the  National  Society,  an  earnest  spirit  of  inquiry  broke 
out  among  the  students  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  It 
was  at  first  encouraged  by  the  President,  Lyman 
Beecher,  who  offered  to  go  in  and  discuss  the  question 
with  his  "boys."  That  eminent  man  did  not  long 
remain  in  this  mind.  The  discussions  which  he  so 
lightly  allowed  swept  through  the  institution  with  the 


IQO  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

force  of  a  great  moral  awakening.  They  were  con 
tinued  during  nine  evenings  and  turned  the  seminary 
at  their  close,  so  far  as  the  students  went,  into  an 
anti-slavery  society.  This  is  not  the  place  to  go  at 
length  into  the  history  of  that  anti-slavery  debate, 
which,  in  its  consequences,  proved  one  of  the  events 
of  the  anti-slavery  conflict.  Its  leader  was  Theodore 
D.  Weld,  who  was  until  Wendell  Phillips  appeared 
upon  the  scene,  the  great  orator  of  the  agitation. 

Dr.  Beecher  had  no  notion  of  raising  such  a  ghost 
when  he  said,  "  Go  ahead,  boys,  I'll  go  in  and  discuss 
with  you."  It  was  such  an  apparition  of  independence 
and  righteousness  as  neither  the  power  of  the  trustees 
nor  the  authority  of  the  faculty  was  ever  able  to  dis 
miss.  The  virtue  of  a  gag  rule  was  tried  to  suppress 
Abolition  among  the  students,  but  instead  of  suppress 
ing  Abolition,  it  well-nigh  suppressed  the  seminary; 
for,  rather  than  wear  a  gag  on  the  obnoxious  subject, 
the  students — to  between  seventy  and  eighty,  compris 
ing  nearly  the  whole  muster-roll  of  the  school — with 
drew  from  an  institution  where  the  exercise  of  the 
right  of  free  inquiry  and  free  speech  on  a  great  moral 
question  was  denied  and  repressed.  The  same  spirit 
of  repression  arose  later  in  the  Theological  School  at 
Andover,  Mass.  There  the  gag  was  effectively  applied 
by  the  faculty,  and  all  inquiry  and  discussion  relat 
ing  to  slavery  disappeared  among  the  students.  But 
the  attempt  to  impose  silence  upon  the  students  of 
Phillips's  Academy  near-by  was  followed  by  the  seces 
sion  of  forty  or  fifty  of  the  students. 

Ah  !  the  Abolitionists  had  undertaken  to  achieve 
the  impossible,  when  they  undertook  to  enlist  the 
pulpit  in  the  cause  of  the  slaves,  and  to  purify  the 


AGITATION  AND    REPRESSION.  191 

churches  from  all  participation  in  the  guilt  of  slavery. 
For  the  average  man,  whether  within  or  without  the 
'church,  is  not  controlled  in  his  conduct  toward  his 
brother  man  by  the  principles  aud  precepts  of  Jesus, 
but  by  the  laws  of  social  and  individual  selfishness. 
These  selfish  forces  may  at  epochal  moments  align 
themselves  with  justice  and  liberty,  and  they  not 
infrequently  do,  otherwise  human  progress  must  be 
at  an  end.  In  advancing  themselves,  they  perforce 
advance  justice  and  liberty.  Thus  do  men  love  their 
neighbors  as  themselves,  and  move  forward  to  frater 
nity  and  equality  in  kingdoms  and  commonwealths. 
The  special  province  of  moral  reformers,  like  Garri 
son  and  the  Abolitionists,  seems  to  be  to  set  these 
egoistic  and  altruistic  elements  of  human  society  at 
war,  the  one  against  the  other,  thereby  compelling  its 
members  and  classes,  willy  nilly,  to  choose  between 
the  belligerents.  Some  will  enlist  on  one  side,  some 
on  the  other,  but  in  the  furnace  heat  of  the  passions 
which  ensues,  an  ancient  evil,  or  a  bad  custom  or 
institution,  gets  the  vitality  burned  out  of  it,  which  in 
due  time  falls  as  slag  out  of  the  new  order  that  arises 
at  the  close  of  the  conflict. 


CHAPTER  X. 

BETWEEN    THE    ACTS. 

MR.  GARRISON,  in  a  private  letter  to  a  friend  under 
date  of  September  12,  1834,  summarises  the  doings 
of  the  preceding  twelve  months  of  his  life,  and  makes 
mention  of  a  fact  which  lends  peculiar  interest  to 
that  time  :  "  It  has  been  the  most  eventful  year,"  he 
remarks,  "  in  my  history.  I  have  been  the  occasion 
of  many  uproars,  and  a  continual  disturber  of  the 
public  peace.  As  soon  as  I  landed  I  turned  the  city 
of  New  York  upside  down.  Five  thousand  people 
turned  out  to  see  me  tarred  and  feathered,  but  were 
disappointed.  There  was  also  a  small  hubbub  in 
Boston  on  my  arrival.  The  excitement  passed  away, 
but  invective  and  calumny  still  followed  me.  By 
dint  of  some  industry  and  much  persuasion,  I  suc 
ceeded  in  inducing  the  Abolitionists  in  New  York  to 
join  our  little  band  in  Boston,  in  calling  a  national 
convention  at  Philadelphia.  We  met,  and  such  a 
body  of  men,  for  zeal,  firmness,  integrity,  benevo 
lence,  and  moral  greatness,  the  world  has  rarely  seen  in 
a  single  assembly.  Inscribed  upon  a  declaration  which 
it  was  my  exalted  privilege  to  write,  their  names  can 
perish  only  with  the  knowledge  of  the  history  of  our 
times.  A  National  Anti-Slavery  Society  was  formed, 
which  astonished  the  country  by  its  novelty,  and 


BETWEEN    THE    ACTS.  193 

awed  it  by  its  boldness.  In  five  months  its  first  annual 
meeting  was  held  in  the  identical  city  in  which,  only 
seven  antecedent  months,  Abolitionists  were  in  peril 
of  their  lives.  In  ability,  interest,  and  solemnity  it 
took  precedence  of  all  the  great  religious  celebrations 
which  took  place  at  the  same  time.  During  the  same 
month,  a  New  England  anti-slavery  convention  was 
held  in  Boston,  and  so  judicious  were  its  measures, 
so  eloquent  its  appeals,  so  unequivocal  its  resolutions, 
that  it  at  once  gave  shape  and  character  to  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  in  this  section  of  the  Union.  In  the 
midst  of  all  these  mighty  movements,  I  have  wooed 
"a  fair  ladye,"  and  won  her,  have  thrown  aside 
celebacy,  and  jumped  body  and  soul  into  matrimony, 
have  sunk  the  character  of  bachelor  in  that  of  hus 
band,  have  settled  down  into  domestic  quietude,  and 
repudiated  all  my  roving  desires,  and  have  found  that 
which  I  have  long  been  yearning  to  find,  a  home,  a 
wife,  and  a  beautiful  retreat  from  a  turbulent  city." 
Garrison  does  not  exaggerate  the  importance  of 
the  initiatives  and  achievements  of  the  year,  or  the 
part  played  by  him  in  its  history.  His  activity  was 
indeed  phenomenal,  and  the  service  rendered  by  him 
to  the  reform,  was  unrivaled.  He  was  in  incessant 
motion,  originating,  directing,  inspiring  the  agitation 
in  all  portions  of  the  North.  What  strikes  one 
strongly  in  studying  the  pioneer  is  his  sleeplessness, 
his  indefatigableness,  his  persistency  in  pursuit  of  his 
object.  Others  may  rest  after  a  labor,  may  have 
done  one,  two,  or  three  distinct  tasks,  but  between 
Garrison's  acts  there  is  no  hiatus,  each  follows  each, 
and  is  joined  to  all  like  links  in  a  chain.  He  never 
closed  his  eyes,  nor  folded  his  arms,  but  went  for- 


194  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

ward  from  work  to  work  with  the  consecutiveness  or 
a  law  of  nature. 

But  amid  labors  so  strenuous  and  uninterrupted 
the  leader  found  opportunity  to  woo  and  win  "  a  fait 
ladye."  She  was  a  daughter  of  a  veteran  Abolitionist, 
George  Benson,  of  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  who  with  his 
sons  George  W.  and  Henry  E.  Benson,  were  among 
the  stanchest  of  the  reformer's  followers  and  sup 
porters.  The  young  wife,  before  her  marriage,  was 
not  less  devoted  to  the  cause  than  they.  She  was  in 
closest  sympathy  with  her  husband's  anti-slavery 
interests  and  purposes.  Never  had  husband  found  wife 
better  fitted  to  his  needs,  and  the  needs  of  his  life 
work.  So  that  it  might  be  truly  said  that  Garrison 
even  when  he  went  a- wooing  forgot  not  his  cause  and 
that  when  he  took  a  wife,  he  made  at  the  same  time 
a  grand  contribution  to  its  ultimate  triumph. 

How  did  Helen  Eliza  Garrison  serve  the  great 
cause  ?  One  who  knew  shall  tell.  He  has  told  it  in 
his  own  unequaled  way.  "  That  home,"  he  says,  "was 
a  great  help.  Her  husband's  word  and  pen  scattered 
his  purpose  far  and  wide  ;  but  the  comrades  that  his 
ideas  brought  to  his  side  her  welcome  melted  into 
friends.  No  matter  how  various  and  discordant  they 
were  in  many  things — no  matter  how  much  there  was 
to  bear  and  overlook — her  patience  and  her  thanks 
for  their  sympathy  in  the  great  idea  were  always  suf 
ficient  for  the  work  also.  .  .  .  In  that  group  of  remark 
able  men  and  women  which  the  anti-slavery  move 
ment  drew  together,  she  had  her  own  niche — which 
no  one  else  could  have  filled  so  perfectly  or  uncon 
sciously  as  she  did.  .  .  .  She  forgot,  omitted  nothing. 
How  much  we  all  owe  her  ! "  These  were  words 


BETWEEN    THE    ACTS.  195 

spoken  by  a  friend,  whose  name  will  appear  later  on 
in  this  story;  words  spoken  by  him  at  the  close  of  her 
beautiful  life,  as  she  lay  dead  in  her  coffin. 

And  here  is  another  account  of  her  written  by  the 
husband  on  the  first  anniversary  of  their  marriage  : 
"  I  did  not  marry  her,"  he  confides  to  her  brother 
George,  "  expecting  that  she  would  assume  a  promi 
nent  station  in  the  anti-slavery  cause,  but  for  domes 
tic  quietude  and  happiness.  So  completely  absorbed 
am  I  in  that  cause,  that  it  was  undoubtedly  wise  in 
me  to  select  as  a  partner  one  who,  while  her  benevo 
lent  feelings  were  in  union  with  mine,  was  less  immed 
iately  and  entirely  connected  with  it.  I  knew  she 
was  naturally  diffident,  and  distrustful  of  her  own 
ability  to  do  all  that  her  heart  might  prompt.  She  is 
one  of  those  who  prefer  to  toil  unseen — to  give  by 
stealth — and  to  sacrifice  in  seclusion.  By  her  unwear 
ied  attention  to  my  wants,  her  sympathetic  regards, 
her  perfect  equanimity  of  mind,  and  her  sweet  and 
endearing  manners  ;  she  is  no  trifling  support  to 
Abolitionism,  inasmuch  as  she  lightens  my  labors,  and 
enables  me  to  find  exquisite  delight  in  the  family  cir 
cle,  as  an  offset  to  public  adversity." 

And  here  is  a  lovely  bit  of  self-revelation  made  to  her 
betrothed  several  months  before  they  were  wedded. 
"  I  am  aware  of  the  responsibility  that  will  devolve 
upon  me,"  she  writes,  "  and  how  much  my  example 
will  be  copied  among  that  class  you  have  so  long 
labored  to  elevate  and  enlighten.  I  have  been  con 
sidering  how  the  colored  people  think  of  dress,  and 
how  much  of  their  profits  are  expended  for  useless 
ornaments  that  foolishly  tend  to  make  a  show  and 
parade.  As  much  stress  will,  of  course,  be  laid  on 


196  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Garrison's  wife  by  that  class,  it  behooves  me  to  be 
very  circumspect  in  all  things,  when  called  upon  to 
fill  so  important  a  station." 

The  marriage  occurred  September  4,  1834,  and  the 
next  day  the  pair  set  up  housekeeping  in  "  Freedom's 
Cottage,"  on  Bower  street,  Roxbury.  The  young 
housekeepers  were  rich  in  every  good  thing  except 
money;  and  of  that  commodity  there  was  precious 
little  that  found  its  way  into  the  family  till.  And 
money  was  indispensable  even  to  a  philanthropist, 
who  cared  as  little  for  it  as  did  Garrison.  He  had 
never  in  his  twenty-eight  years  experienced  the  sensa 
tion  which  a  bank  account,  however  small,  gives  its 
possessor.  He  had  been  toiling  during  the  last  three 
years  in  a  state  of  chronic  self-forgetfulness,  and  of 
consequence  in  a  state  of  chronic  inpecuniosity.  He 
had  never  been  careful  of  what  he  got — was  careful 
only  of  what  he  gave.  For  himself  he  was  ready  to 
subsist  on  bread  and  water  and  to  labor  more  than 
fourteen  hours  at  the  case  to  make  the  issue  of  the 
Liberator  possible.  But  surely  he  could  not  put  "a  fair 
ladye  "  on  such  limited  commons  even  for  the  sake  of 
his  cause.  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  an 
unworldly  minded  reformer  ought  to  be  supplied  with 
the  wherewithal  needful  to  feed,  clothe,  and  house 
himself  and  those  dependent  upon  him.  Some  such 
thought  shaped  itself  in  Garrison's  mind  as  his  cir 
cumstances  grew  more  and  more  straitened,  and  his 
future  as  the  head  of  a  family  looked  more  and  more 
ominous.  Anxiety  for  the  morrow  pressed  heavily 
upon  him  as  his  responsibilities  as  a  breadwinner 
hugged  closer  and  closer  his  everyday  life.  Poverty 
ceased  to  be  the  ordinary  enemy  of  former  years, 


BETWEEN   THE   ACTS.  197 

whom  he  from  the  lookouts  of  the  unconquerable 
mind  used  to  laugh  to  scorn  ;  it  had  become  instead 
a  cruel  foe  who  worried  as  by  fire  the  peace  of  his 
soul. 

There  was  the  Liberator?  The  Liberator  as  a 
moral  engine  was  a  marvelous  success ;  but  the 
Liberator  as  a  money-maker  was  a  most  dismal  fail 
ure.  If  its  owners  had  possessed  only  common  apti 
tude  for  business  the  failure  need  not  have  been  so 
complete,  indeed  the  enterprise  might  have  been 
crowned  with  a  moderate  degree  of  success.  But 
never  were  two  men  more  entirely  lacking  in  the 
methods,  which  should  enter  into  ventures  of  that 
character,  than  were  Garrison  and  Knapp.  Garrison 
was  unfortunate  in  this  respect  but  it  seems  that 
Knapp  was  more  so.  Neither  took  to  book-keeping, 
and  neither  overcame  his  serious  deficiency  in  this 
regard.  The  consequence  was  that  the  books  kept 
themselves,  and  confusion  grew  upon  confusion  until 
the  partners  were  quite  confounded.  Garrison  naively 
confesses  this  fault  of  the  firm  to  his  brother-in-law 
thus :  "  Brother  Knapp,  you  know,  resembles  me 
very  closely  in  his  habits  of  procrastination.  Indeed 
I  think  he  is  rather  worse  than  I  am  in  this  respect !  " 

The  paper  was  issued  originally  without  a  single 
subscriber.  At  the  end  of  the  first  volume  the  sub 
scription  list  numbered  five  hundred  names.  In  the 
course  of  the  next  two  volumes  this  number  was 
more  than  doubled,  almost  tripled,  in  fact.  The  sub 
scription  price  was  two  dollars.  The  property  would 
have  begun  from  this  point  to  make  returns  to  its 
owners  had  they  possessed  the  business  training  and 
instinct  requisite  to  its  successful  management.  But 


198  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

they  were  reformers,  not  money-getters,  and  instead 
of  enjoying  the  profits  they  proceeded  to  use  them 
up  incontinently  in  their  first  enlargement  of  the 
paper.  But  while  they  had  added  to  the  cost  of 
publication,  they  took  no  thought  to  augment  the 
cost  of  subscription.  The  publishers  gave  more  and 
the  subscribers  received  more  for  the  sum  of  two 
dollars.  The  pecuniary  embarrassments  of  the 
Liberator  increased,  and  so  the  partners'  "  bondage  to 
penury  "  increased  also.  This  growing  pressure  was 
finally  relieved  by  "several  generous  donations," 
made  for  the  support  of  the  paper.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  fourth  volume,  the  publishers  wisely  or  other- 
wisely,  again  enlarged  their  darling,  and  again  neg 
lected  to  raise  the  subscription  rates  at  the  same 
time. 

Misfortunes  never  come  without  company,  but  alight 
in  flocks,  and  a  whole  flock  of  misfortunes  it  was  to 
the  Liberator  when  Joshua  Coffin,  "  that  huge  per 
sonification  of  good  humor,"  was  appointed  canvass 
ing  agent  for  the  paper.  He  was  as  wanting  in 
business  methods  as  his  employers  were.  Confusion 
now  gathered  upon  confusion  around  the  devoted 
heads  of  the  partners,  was  accelerated  and  became 
daily  more  and  more  portentous  and  inextricable. 
The  delinquencies  of  subscribers  grew  more  and 
more  grave.  On  the  three  first  volumes  they  were 
two  thousand  dollars  in  arrears  to  the  paper.  This 
was  a  large,  a  disastrous  loss,  but  traceable,  to  no 
inconsiderable  extent,  doubtless,  to  the  loose  busi 
ness  methods  of  the  reformer  and  his  partner.  The 
Liberator  at  the  beginning  of  its  fourth  year  was 
struggling  in  a  deep  hole  of  financial  helplessness 


BETWEEN    THE    ACTS,  199 

and  chaos.  Would  it  ever  get  out  alive,  or  SHALL 
THE  LIBERA  TOR  DIE  ?  "  burst  in  a  cry  of  anguish, 
almost  despair,  from  its  editor,  so  weak  in  thought  of 
self,  so  supreme  in  thought  of  others. 

This  carelessness  of  what  appertained  to  the  things 
which  concerned  self,  and  devotion  to  the  things 
which  concerned  his  cause,  finds  apt  and  pathetic 
illustration  in  this  letter  to  Samuel  J.  May  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1834,  when  his  pecuniary  embarrassments  and 
burdens  were  never  harder  to  carry  : 

"  In  reply  to  your  favor  of  the  24th  [July],  my 
partner  joins  with  me  in  consenting  to  print  an  edi 
tion  of  Miss  Crandall's  [defence]  as  large  as  the  one 
proposed  by  you,  at  our  own  risk.  As  to  the  profits 
that  may  arise  from  the  sale  of  the  pamphlet,  we  do 
not  expect  to  make  any  ;  on  the  contrary,  we  shall 
probably  suffer  some  loss,  in  consequence  of  the  diffi 
culty  of  disposing  of  any  publication,  however  inter 
esting  or  valuable  in  itself.  But  a  trial  so  important 
as  Miss  C.'s,  involving  such  momentous  consequences 
to  a  large  portion  of  our  countrymen,  implicating  so 
deeply  the  character  of  this  great  nation,  ought  not  to 
go  unpublished,  and  shall  not  while  we  have  the  nec 
essary  materials  for  printing  it." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  weekly  circu 
lation  of  the  Liberator,  in  the  spring  of  1834,  was 
twenty-three  hundred  copies,  and  that  this  num 
ber  was  distributed  in  Philadelphia,  four  hun 
dred  ;  in  New  York,  three  hundred  ;  in  Boston, 
two  hundred  ;  in  other  parts  of  the  free  States 
eleven  hundred  ;  and  that  of  the  remaining  three  hun 
dred,  one-half  was  sent  as  exchange  with  other  papers, 
and  eighty  of  the  other  half  were  divided  equally 


2OO  WILLIAK    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

between  England  and  Hayti,  leaving  seventy  copies 
for  gratuitous  distribution.  The  colored  subscribers 
to  the  paper  were  to  the  whites  as  three  to  one. 

There  were  several  suggestions  by  sundry  friends 
looking  to  the  release  of  the  Liberator  from  its 
embarrassments,  and,  to  the  relief  of  its  unselfish 
publishers,  from  the  grinding  poverty  which  its 
issue  imposed  upon  them.  The  most  hopeful 
and  feasible  of  them  was  the  scheme  of  which 
Garrison  wrote  his  betrothed  April  14,  1834:  "I 
am  happy  to  say,"  he  pours  into  her  ears,  "  that  it 
is  probable  the  managers  of  the  New  England  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  will  determine,  to-morrow  afternoon, 
to  take  all  the  pecuniary  liabilities  of  the  Liberator 
hereafter,  and  give  me  a  regular  salary  for  editing  it, 
and  friend  Knapp  a  fair  price  for  printing  it.  My  sal 
ary  will  not  be  less  than  $800  per  annum,  and  perhaps 
it  will  be  fixed  at  a  $1,000.  .  .  .  The  new  arrangement 
will  go  into  effect  on  the  ist  of  July."  But  alas;  the 
managers  took  no  such  action  on  the  morrow,  nor 
went  the  "new  arrangement  "  into  effect  at  the  time 
anticipated.  The  editor  was  married  in  September, 
and  two  months  later  the  eagerly  expected  relief  was 
still  delayed.  This  hope  deferred  must  have  caused 
the  young  husband  meanwhile  no  little  anxiety  and 
heart  sickness. 

Love  in  a  cottage  is  very  pretty  and  romantic  in 
novels,  but  love  in  a  cottage  actually  thriving  on 
"  bread  and  water,"  was  a  sweet  reality  in  the  home 
of  the  young  couple  in  Roxbury.  "All  the  world  loves 
a  lover,"  says  Emerson,  but  alas!  there  are  exceptions 
to  all  rules,  and  all  the  world  loved  not  Garrison  in 
his  newly  found  felicity  as  shall  presently  appear. 


BETWEEN    THE   ACTS.  2OI 

The  pledge  made  by  the  reformer  in  the  initial 
number  of  the  Liberator  to  be  "  as  harsh  as  truth," 
had  been  kept  to  the  letter.  To  some  minds  there  is 
nothing  more  difficult  to  understand  and  tolerate 
than  is  the  use  of  harsh  language  toward  individual 
wrongdoers.  They  appear  to  be  much  more  solici 
tous  to  turn 'away  the  wrath  of  the  wicked  than  to 
do  away  with  their  wickedness.  Multitudes  of  such 
minds  were  offended  at  the  tremendous  seventies  of 
Garrison's  speech.  They  were  for  peace  at  any  cost, 
while  Garrison  was  for  truth  at  any  cost.  These  pro- 
slavery  critics  were  not  necessarily  wanting  in  good 
feelings  to  the  slaves,  or  lacking  in  a  sense  of  the 
justice  of  their  cause.  But  the  feelings  and  the  sense 
were  transitive  to  an  abstract  object,  intransitive  to 
that  terrible  reality,  the  American  slave.  The  indig 
nation  of  such  people  exceeded  all  bounds  when  con 
templating  wrongs  in  the  abstract,  iniquity  in  the 
abstract,  while  the  genuine  article  in  flesh  and  blood 
and  habited  in  broadcloth  and  respectability  provoked 
no  indignation,  provoked  instead  unbounded  charity 
for  the  willing  victims  of  ancestral  transgressions. 
Upon  the  Southern  slaveholder,  as  a  creature  of  cir 
cumstances,  these  people  expended  all  their  sympathy 
while  upon  the  Southern  slave,  who  were  to  their 
view  the  circumstances,  they  looked  with  increasing 
disapprobation.  Garrison's  harsh  language  greatly 
shocked  this  class — excited  their  unbounded  indigna 
tion  against  the  reformer. 

Besides  this  class  there  was  another,  composed  of 
friends,  whom  Garrison's  denunciatory  style  offended. 
To  Charles  Pollen  and  Charles  Stuart,  and  Lewis 
Tappan,  this  characteristic  of  the  writings  of  the 


202  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

great  agitator  was  a  sore  trial.  To  them  and  to 
others,  too,  his  language  seemed  grossly  intemperate 
and  vituperative,  and  was  deemed  productive  of 
harm  to  the  movement.  But  Garrison  defended  his 
harsh  language  by  pointing  to  the  state  of  the  coun 
try  on  the  subject  of  slavery  before  he  began  to  use 
it,  and  to  the  state  of  the  country  afterward.  How 
utterly  and  morally  dead  the  nation  was  before,  how 
keenly  and  marvelously  alive  it  became  afterward. 
The  blast  which  he  had  blown  had  jarred  upon  the 
senses  of  his  slumbering  countrymen  he  admitted, 
but  he  should  not  be  blamed  for  that.  What  to  his 
critics  sounded  harsh  and  abusive,  was  to  him  the 
trump  of  God.  For,  at  the  thunder-peal  which  the 
Almighty  blew  from  the  mouth  of  his  servant,  how, 
as  by  a  miracle,  the  dead  soul  of  the  nation  awoke  to 
righteousness.  He  does  not  arrogate  to  himself  in 
fallibility,  indeed  he  is  sure  that  his  language  is  not 
always  happily  chosen.  Such  errors,  however,  appear 
to  him  trivial,  in  view  of  indisputable  and  extraordi 
nary  results  produced  by  the  Liberator.  He  believes 
in  marrying  masculine  truths  to  masculine  words. 
He  protests  against  his  condemnation  by  compari 
son.  "  Every  writer's  style  is  his  own — it  may  be 
smooth  or  rough,  plain  or  obscure,  simple  or  grand, 
feeble  or  strong,"  he  contends,  "  but  principles  are  im 
mutable."  By  his  principles,  therefore  he  would,  be 
judged.  "  Whittier,  for  instance,/'  he  continues,  "  is 
highly  poetical,  exuberant,  and  beautiful.  Stuart  is 
solemn,  pungent,  and  severe.  Wright  is  a  thorough 
logician,  dextrous,  transparent,  straightforward. 
Beriah  Green  is  manly,  eloquent,  vigorous,  devotional. 
May  is  persuasive,  zealous,  overflowing  with  the  milk 


BETWEEN    THE    ACTS.  203 

of  human  kindness.  Cox  is  diffusive,  sanguine,  mag 
nificent,  grand.  Bourne  thunders  and  lightens. 
Phelps  is  one  great,  clear,  infallible  argument — 
demonstration  itself.  Jocelyn  is  full  of  heavenly- 
mindedness,  and  feels  and  speaks  and  acts  with  a 
zeal  according  to  knowledge.  Follen  is  chaste,  pro 
found,  and  elaborately  polished.  Goodell  is  per 
ceptive,  analytical,  expert,  and  solid.  Child  (David 
L.)  is  generously  indignant,  courageous,  and  demon 
strative  ;  his  lady  combines  strength  with  beauty, 
argumentation  with  persuasiveness,  greatness  with 
humility.  Birney  is  collected,  courteous,  dispas 
sionate — his  fearlessness  excites  admiration,  his  con 
scientiousness  commands  respect."  Of  these  writers, 
which  is  acceptable  to  slaveholders  or  their  apolo 
gists  ?  Some  have  been  cruelly  treated  and  all  been 
calumniated  as  "  fanatics,  disorganizers,  and  mad 
men."  And  why?  "Certainly  not  for  the  phrase 
ology  which  they  use,  but  for  the  principles  which  they 
adopt." 

From  another  quarter  came  presently  notes  of  dis 
cord,  aroused  by  Garrison's  hard  language.  Sundry 
of  the  Unitarian  clergy,  under  the  lead  of  Rev.  Henry 
Ware,  Jr.,  took  it  into  their  heads  that  the  editor  of 
the  Liberator  and  some  others  were  outrageously 
abusing  the  Abolition  cause,  "  mismanaging  it  by 
their  unreasonable  violence  "  of  language.  Where 
fore  those  gentlemen  interposed  to  rescue  the  great 
cause  from  harm  by  a  brilliant  scheme  designed  to 
secure  moderation  in  this  regard.  This  brilliant 
scheme  was  nothing  less  ubsurd  than  the  establish 
ment  of  a  censorship  over  the  Liberator.  But  as 
these  solicitous  souls  had  reckoned  without  their 


204  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

host,  their  amiable  plan  came  to  naught  ;  but  not, 
however,  before  adding  a  new  element  to  the  univer 
sal  discord  then  fast  swelling  to  a  roar.  To  the 
storm  of  censure  gathering  about  his  head  the  re 
former  bowed  not — neither  swerved  he  to  the  right 
hand  nor  to  the  left — all  the  while  deeming  it,  "  with 
the  apostle,  a  small  thing  to  be  judged  by  man's 
judgment."  "  I  solicit  no  man's  praise,"  he  sternly 
replies  to  his  critics,  "I  fear  no  men's  censure." 

There  was  still  another  cause  of  offence  given  by 
Garrison  to  his  countrymen.  It  was  not  his  hard  Ian- 
guage,  but  a  circumstance  less  tolerable,  if  that  was 
possible,  than  even  that  rock  of  offence.  It  seems 
that  when  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  was  in  England, 
and  dining  with  Thomas  Powell  Buxton,  he  was  asked 
by  the  latter  in  what  way  the  English  Abolitionists 
could  best  assist  the  anti-slavery  movement  in  Amer 
ica,  and  he  had  replied,  "  By  giving  us  George  Thomp 
son."  This  unexpected  answer  of  the  American 
appeared  without  doubt  to  the  Englishman  at  the 
time  somewhat  extraordinary.  He  had  his  misgivings 
as  to  the  wisdom,  to  say  nothing  of  the  propriety,  of 
an  international  act  of  such  importance  and  delicacy 
as  the  sending  of  George  Thompson  to  America.  He 
questioned  whether  the  national  self-love  of  the 
American  people  would  not  resent  the  arrival  of  an 
Englishman  on  such  a  mission  among  them  and 
refuse  him  a  fair  hearing  in  consequence.  But  Gar 
rison  was  confident  that  while  Thompson's  advent 
would  stir  up  the  pro-slavery  bile  of  the  North  and 
all  that,  he  would  not  be  put  to  much  if  any  greater 
disadvantage  as  a  foreigner  in  speaking  in  New  Eng 
land  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  than  wen  those  Aboli 


BETWEEN    THE    ACTS.  205 

tionists  who  were  to  the  manner  born.  As  to  his 
friend's  personal  safety  in  the  East,  Garrison  was 
extremely  optimistic,  had  not  apparently  the  slightest 
apprehensions  for  him  in  this  regard. 

Well,  after  due  deliberation,  George  Thompson  con 
sented  to  undertake  the  mission  to  America,  and  the 
English  reformers  to  send  him,  though  not  all  of  them. 
For  some  there  were  like  James  Cropper,  who  were 
indisposed  to  promoting  such  a  mission,  or  "  paying 
agents  to  travel  in  the  United  States."  It  was  natural 
enough  for  Mr.  Garrison  to  prefer  such  a  request 
after  hearing  George  Thompson  speak.  For  he  was 
one  of  those  electric  speakers,  who  do  with  popular 
audiences  what  they  will.  In  figure  and  voice  and 
action,  he  was  a  born  orator.  His  eloquence  was 
graphic,  picturesque,  thrilling,  and  over  English 
audiences  it  was  irresistible.  Garrison  fancied  that 
such  eloquence  would  prove  equally  attractive  to  and 
irresistible  over  American  audiences  as  well.  But  in 
this  he  was  somewhat  mistaken,  for  Thompson  had 
to  deal  with  an  element  in  American  audiences  of 
which  he  had  had  no  experience  in  England.  What 
that  element  was  he  had  occasion  to  surmise  directly 
he  arrived  upon  these  shores.  He  reached  New 
York  just  sixteeen  days  after  the  marriage  of  his 
friend,  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  to  be  immediately 
threatened  with  mob  violence  by  the  metropolitan 
press  in  case  he  ventured  to  "  lecture  in  favor  of 
immediate  Abolition,"  and  to  be  warned  that:  "  If  our 
people  will  not  suffer  our  own  citizens  to  tamper  with 
the  question  of  slavery,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
they  will  tolerate  the  officious  intermeddling  of  a 
foreign  fanatic."  Then  as  if  by  way  of  giving  him 


206  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

a  taste  of  the  beak  and  talons  of  the  American  amovr 
propre,  he  and  his  family  were  put  out  of  the  Atlant  c 
Hotel  in  deference  to  the  wish  of  an  irate  Southerner. 
Thus  introduced  the  English  orator  advanced  speed 
ily  thereafter  into  closer  acquaintance  with  the  Amer 
ican  public.  He  lectured  in  many  parts  of  New 
England  where  that  new  element  of  rowdyism  and 
virulence  of  which  his  English  audiences  had  given 
him  no  previous  experience,  manifested  its  presence 
first  in  one  way  and  then  in  others,  putting  him 
again  and  again  in  jeopardy  of  life  and  limb.  At 
Augusta,  Maine,  his  windows  were  broken,  and  he 
was  warned  out  of  the  town.  At  Concord,  New 
Hampshire,  his  speech  was  punctuated  with  missiles. 
At  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  he  narrowly  escaped  being 
struck  on  the  head  and  killed  by  a  brickbat.  Indeed 
it  was  grimly  apparent  that  the  master  of  Freedom's 
Cottage  would  be  obliged  to  revise  his  views  as  to  the 
hazard,  which  his  friend  ran  in  speaking  upon  the 
subject  of  slavery  in  New  England.  To  do  so  was 
weekly  becoming  for  that  friend  an  enterprise  of 
great  personal  peril.  But  it  added  also  to  the  fierce 
hatred  with  which  the  public  now  regarded  Garrison. 
He  was  the  author  of  all  the  mischief,  the  slavery 
agitation,  the  foreign  emissary.  He  had  even  dared  to 
inject  the  poison  of  Abolitionism  into  the  politics  of 
Boston  and  Massachusetts.  This  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Liberator  to  establish  an  anti-slavery  test  of 
office  was  only  another  proof  of  the  dangerous  char 
acter  of  the  new  fanaticism  and  the  Jacobinical 
designs  of  the  Garrisonian  fanatics,  ergo,  the  impor 
tance  of  suppressing  the  incendiaries.  Down  with 
Thompson !  Garrison  must  be  destroyed  !  The 


BETWEEN    THE    ACTS.  207 

Union — it  must  and  shall  be  preserved  !  All  these 
the  public  excitement,  which  had  risen  everywhere 
to  a  tempest,  had  come  more  and  more  to  mean.  A 
tremendous  crisis  had  come  in  the  life  of  Garrison, 
and  a  great  peril,  eagle-like,  with  the  stirred-up  hate 
of  a  nation,  was  swooping  upon  him. 


CHAPTER  XL 

MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE. 

A  WILD-CAT-LIKE  creature  was  abroad.  To  it  the 
Abolitionists  were  to  be  thrown.  It  was  to  destroy 
Garrison,  make  an  end  of  Thompson,  and  suppress 
between  its  enormous  jaws  the  grandest  moral  move 
ment  of  the  century.  Besides  doing  up  this  modesi 
little  programme,  the  beast,  O  wonderful  to  say,  was 
also  to  crown  its  performances  by  "saving"  the 
Union.  Rejoicing  in  the  possession  of  such  a  con 
servative  institution,  the  politicians,  the  press,  and 
public  opinion  uncaged  the  monster,  while  from 
secure  seats  they  watched  the  frightful  scenes  of  fury 
and  destruction  enacted  by  it  in  the  national  arena. 

These  scenes  began  in  the  summer  of  1834,  and  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  They  were  ushered  in  by  the 
breaking  up  of  an  anti-slavery  celebration  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  by  the  clack  and  roar  of  several  hun 
dred  young  rowdies,  gathered  for  the  purpose.  Their 
success  but  whetted  the  appetite  of  the  spirit  of  mis 
chief  for  other  ventures  against  the  Abolitionists.  As 
a  consequence  New  York  was  in  a  more  or  less  dis 
turbed  state  from  the  fourth  to  the  ninth  of  the 
month.  The  press  of  the  city,  with  but  a  single  ex 
ception  (The  Evening  Post)  meanwhile  goaded  the 
populace  on  by  false  and  inflammatory  representa 
tions  touching  the  negroes  and  their  friends,  to  the 

(208) 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE.  209 

rioting  which  began  in  earnest  on  the  evening  of  the 
ninth.  That  night  a  mob  attacked  Lewis  Tappan's 
house  on  Rose  street,  breaking  in  the  door,  smashing 
blinds  and  windows,  and  playing  havoc  generally 
with  the  furniture.  On  the  following  evening  the 
rioters  assailed  the  store  of  Arthur  Tappan,  on  Pearl 
street,  demolishing  almost  every  pane  of  glass  in  the 
front  of  the  building.  On  the  same  evening  the  mob 
paid  its  respects  to  Rev.  Dr.  Cox,  by  breaking  win 
dows  both  at  his  house  and  at  his  church.  The  negro 
quarters  in  the  neighborhood  of  Five  Points,  and 
their  houses  in  other  parts  of  the  city,  were  raided  on 
the  night  of  the  nth,  and  much  damage  done  by  the 
lawless  hordes  which  for  nearly  a  week  wreaked  their 
wrath  upon  the  property  of  the  negroes  and  their 
anti-slavery  friends. 

After  this  brave  beginning,  the  wild-cat-like  spirit 
continued,  these  ferocious  demonstrations  in  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Michigan,  Connecticut, 
Maine,  and  New  Hampshire.  The  slavery  agitation 
had  increased  apace.  It  had  broken  out  in  Congress 
on  the  presentation  of  anti-slavery  petitions.  The 
fire  thus  kindled  spread  through  the  country.  South 
ern  excitement  became  intense,  amounted  almost  to 
panic.  The  activity  of  the  anti-slavery  press,  the 
stream  of  anti-slavery  publications,  which  had,  in 
deed,  increased  with  singular  rapidity,  was  exagger 
ated  by  the  Southern  imagination,  struck  it  with  a 
sort  of  terror.  There  were  meetings  held  in  many 
parts  of  the  South,  tremendous  scenes  enacted  there. 
In  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  the  post-office  was 
broken  open  by  an  aristocratic  mob,  under  the  lead 
of  the  famous  Robert Y.  Hayne,  and  a  bonfire  made 


210  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

of  the  Abolition  mail-matter  which  it  contained.  As 
this  Southern  excitement  advanced,  a  passionate  fear 
for  the  stability  of  the  Union  arose  in  the  heart  of 
the  North.  Abolition  and  the  Abolitionists  had  pro 
duced  these  sectional  disturbances.  Abolition  and 
the  Abolitionists  were,  therefore,  enemies  of  the 
"  glorious  Union."  Northern  excitement  kept  pace 
with  Southern  excitement  until,  in  the  summer  of 
1835,  a  reign  of  terror  was  widely  established  over 
both  sections.  To  Garrison,  from  his  Liberator  out 
look,  all  seemed  "  Consternation  and  perplexity,  for 
perilous  times  have  come."  They  had,  indeed,  come 
in  New  York,  as  witness  this  from  the  pen  of  Lydia 
Maria  Child,  who  was  at  the  time  (August  15)  in 
Brooklyn.  Says  she: 

"  I  have  not  ventured  into  the  city,  nor  does  one  of 
us  dare  to  go  to  church  to-day,  so  great  is  the  excite 
ment  here.  You  can  form  no  conception  of  it.  Tis 
like  the  time  of  the  French  Revolution,  when  no  man 
dared  trust  his  neighbor.  Private  assassins  from 
New  Orleans  are  lurking  at  the  corners  of  the  streets 
to  stab  Arthur  Tappan,  and  very  large  sums  are 
offered  for  any  one  who  will  convey  Mr.  Thompson 
into  the  slave  States.  .  .  .  There  are  several 
thousand  Southerners  now  in  the  city,  and  I  am 
afraid  there  are  not  seven  hundred  among  them  who 
have  the  slightest  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes.  Mr. 
Wright  [Elizur]  was  yesterday  barricading  his  doors 
and  windows  with  strong  bars  and  planks  an  inch 
thick.  Violence  in  some  form  seems  to  be  generally 
expected." 

Great  meetings  to  put  the  Abolitionists  down  af 
forded  vents  during  this  memorable  year  to  the  pent- 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE.  211 

up  excitement  of  the  free  States.  New  York  had  had 
its  great  meeting,  and  had  put  the  Abolitionists  down 
with  pro-slavery  resolutions  and  torrents  of  pro- 
slavery  eloquence.  Boston,  too,  had  to  have  her 
great  meeting  and  her  cataracts  of  pro-slavery  ora 
tory  to  reassure  the  South  of  the  sympathy  and  sup 
port  of  "  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  the  Northern 
States."  The  toils  seemed  everywhere  closing  around 
the  Abolitionists.  The  huge  head  of  the  asp  of  public 
opinion,  the  press  of  the  land  was  everywhere  busy, 
day  and  night,  smearing  with  a  thick  and  virulent 
saliva  of  lies  the  brave  little  band  and  its  leader. 
Anti-slavery  publications,  calculated  to  inflame  the 
minds  of  the  slaves  against  their  masters,  and  in 
tended  to  instigate  the  slaves  to  servile  insurrections, 
had  been  distributed  broadcast  through  the  South  by 
the  emissaries  of  anti-slavery  societies.  The  Abolition 
ists  advocated  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  the 
South  by  Congress,  intermarriages  between  the  two 
races,  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  etc.  All  of  which 
outrageous  misrepresentations  were  designed  to  ren 
der  the  movement  utterly  odious  to  the  public,  and 
the  public  so  much  the  more  furious  for  its  suppres 
sion. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  such  intense  and  widespread 
excitement  that  Boston  called  its  meeting  to  abolish 
the  Abolitionists.  It  was  the  month  of  August,  and 
the  heat  of  men's  passions  was  as  great  as  the  heat 
of  the  August  sun.  The  moral  atmosphere  of  the 
city  was  so  charged  with  inflammable  gases  that  the 
slightest  spark  would  have  sufficed  to  produce  an  ex 
plosion.  The  Abolitionists  felt  this  and  carried  them 
selves  the  while  with  unusual  circumspection.  They 


212  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

deemed  it  prudent  to  publish  an  address  to  neutralize 
the  falsehoods  with  which  they  were  assailed  by  their 
enemies.  The  address  drawn  up  by  Garrison  for  the 
purpose  was  thonght  "  too  fiery  for  the  present  time," 
by  his  more  cautious  followers  and  was  rejected.  The 
Liberator  office  had  already  been  threatened  in  conse 
quence  of  a  fiery  article  by  the  editor,  denouncing  the 
use  of  Faneuil  Hall  for  the  approaching  pro-slavery 
meeting.  It  seemed  to  the  unawed  and  indignant 
champion  of  liberty  that  it  were  "  better  that  the 
winds  should  scatter  it  in  fragments  over  the  whole 
earth — better  that  an  earthquake  should  engulf  it — 
than  that  it  should  be  used  for  so  unhallowed  and 
detestable  a  purpose  !  "  The  anti-abolition  feeling  of 
the  town  had  become  so  bitter  and  intense  that  Henry 
E.  Benson,  then  clerk  in  the  anti-slavery  office,  writ 
ing  on  the  i9th  of  the  month,  believed  that  there  were 
persons  in  Boston,  who  would  assassinate  George 
Thompson  in  broad  daylight,  and  doubted  whether 
Garrison  or  Samuel  J.  May  would  be  safe  in  Faneuil 
Hall  on  the  day  of  the  meeting,  and  what  seemed 
still  more  significant  of  the  inflamed  state  of  the  pub 
lic  mind,  was  the  confidence  with  which  he  predicted 
that  a  mob  would  follow  the  meeting.  The  wild-cat 
like  spirit  was  in  the  air — in  the  seething  heart  of  the 
populace. 

The  meeting  was  held  August  2ist,  in  the  old  cradle 
of  liberty.  To  its  call  alone  fifteen  hundred  names 
were  appended.  It  was  a  Boston  audience  both  as  to 
character  and  numbers,  an  altogether  imposing  affair, 
over  whom  the  mayor  of  the  city  presided  and  before 
whom  two  of  the  most  consummate  orators  of  the 
commonwealth  fulmined  against  the  Abolitionists. 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE. 

One  of  their  hearers,  a  young  attorney  of  twenty-four, 
who  listened  to  Peleg  Sprague  and  Harrison  Gray  Otis 
that  day,  described  sixteen  years  afterward  the  latter 
and  the  effects  produced  by  him  on  that  audience. 
Our  young  attorney  vividly  recalled  how  "  'Abolition 
ist  '  was  linked  with  contempt,  in  the  silver  tones  of 
Otis,  and  all  the  charms  that  a  divine  eloquence  and 
most  felicitous  diction  could  throw  around  a  bad 
cause  were  given  it ;  the  excited  multitude  seemed 
actually  ready  to  leap  up  beneath  the  magic  of  his 
speech.  It  would  be  something,  if  one  must  die,  to 
die  by  such  a  hand — a  hand  somewhat  worthy  and 
able  to  stifle  anti-slavery,  if  it  could  be  stifled.  The 
orator  was  worthy  of  the  gigantic  task  attempted  ; 
and  thousands  crowded  before  him,  every  one  of  their 
hearts  melted  by  that  eloquence,  beneath  which  Mas 
sachusetts  had  bowed,  not  unworthily,  for  more  than 
thirty  years." 

Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  sort  of  goading  which 
the  wild-cat-like  spirit  of  the  city  got  from  the  ora 
tors.  It  is  taken  from  the  speech  of  Peleg  Sprague. 
The  orator  is  paying  his  respects  to  George  Thomp 
son,  "  an  avowed  emissary"  "  a  professed  agitator," 
who  "  comes  here  from  the  dark  and  corrupt  institu 
tions  of  Europe  to  enlighten  us  upon  the  rights  of 
man  and  the  moral  duties  of  our  own  condition. 
Received  by  our  hospitality,  he  stands  here  upon  our 
soil,  protected  by  our  laws,  and  hurls  firebrands,  ar 
rows,  and  death  into  the  habitations  of  our  neighbors 
and  friends,  and  brothers  ;  and  when  he  shall  have 
kindled  a  conflagration  which  is  sweeping  in  desola 
tion  over  our  land,  he  has  only  to  embark  for  his  own 
country,  and  there  look  serenely  back  with  indiffer- 


214  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

ence  or  exultation  upon  the  widespread  ruin  by  which 
our  cities  are  wrapt  in  flames,  and  our  garments  rolled 
in  blood." 

The  great  meeting  was  soon  a  thing  of  the  past  but 
not  so  its  effects.  The  echoes  of  Otis  and  Sprague  did 
did  not  cease  at  its  close.  They  thrilled  in  the  air, 
they  thrilled  long  afterward  in  the  blood  of  the  people. 
When  the  multitude  dispersed  Mischief  went  out  into 
the  streets  of  the  city  with  them.  Wherever  after 
ward  they  gathered  Mischief  made  one  in  their  midst. 
Mischief  was  let  loose,  Mischief  was  afoot  in  the  town. 
The  old  town  was  no  place  for  the  foreign  emissary, 
neither  was  it  a  safe  place  for  the  arch-agitator.  On 
the  day  after  the  meeting,  Garrison  and  his  young 
wife  accordingly  retreated  to  her  father's  home  at 
Brooklyn,  Conn.,  where  the  husband  needed  not  to  be 
jostling  elbows  with  Mistress  Mischief,  and  her /#/.$•. 

Garrison's  answer  to  the  speeches  of  Otis  and 
Sprague  was  in  his  sternest  vein.  He  is  sure  after 
reading  them  that,  "  there  is  more  guilt  attaching  to 
the  people  of  the  free  States  from  the  continuance  of 
slavery,  than  those  in  the  slave  States."  At  least  he 
is  ready  to  affirm  upon  the  authority  of  Orator 
Sprague,  "  that  New  England  is  as  really  a  slave- 
holding  section  of  the  republic  as  Georgia  or  South 
Carolina."  Sprague,  he  finds,  "in  amicable  compan 
ionship  and  popular  repute  with  thieves  and  adult 
erers  ;  with  slaveholders,  slavedealers,  and  slave- 
destroyers  ;  ,  .  .  with  the  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace  ;  with  the  robbers  of  the  public  mail ;  with 
ruffians  who  insult,  pollute,  and  lacerate  helpless 
women  ;  and  with  conspirators  against  the  lives  and 
liberties  of  New  England  citizens." 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE.  215 

To  Otis  who  was  then  nearly  seventy  years  of  age 
Garrison  addressed  his  rebuke  in  tones  of  singular 
solemnity.  It  seemed  to  him  that  the  aged  statesman 
had  transgressed  against  liberty  "  under  circum 
stances  of  peculiar  criminality."  "Yet  at  this  solemn 
period,"  the  reprobation  of  the  prophet  ran,  "  you 
have  not  scrupled,  nay,  you  have  been  ambitious,  to 
lead  and  address  an  excited  multitude,  in  vindication 
of  all  imaginable  wickedness,  embodied  in  one  great 
system  of  crime  and  blood — to  pander  to  the  lusts  and 
desires  of  the  robbers  of  God  and  his  ppor — to  con 
sign  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  cruel  taskmasters, 
multitudes  of  guiltless  men,  women,  and  children — 
and  to  denounce  as  an  'unlawful  and  dangerous  asso 
ciation'  a  society  whose  only  object  is  to  bring  this 
nation  to  repentance,  through  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus." 

These  audacious  and  iconoclastic  performances  of 
the  reformer  were  not  exactly  adapted  to  turn  from 
him  the  wrath  of  the  idol  worshipers.  They  more 
likely  added  fuel  to  the  hot  anger  burning  in  Boston 
against  him.  Three  weeks  passed  after  his  departure 
from  the  city,  and  his  friends  did  not  deem  it  safe 
for  him  to  return.  Toward  the  end  of  the  fourth 
week  of  his  enforced  absence,  against  which  he  was 
chafing  not  a  little,  an  incident  happened  in  Boston 
which  warned  him  to  let  patience  have  its  perfect 
work.  It  was  on  the  night  of  September  iyth  that  the 
dispositions  of  the  city  toward  him  found  grim  ex 
pression  in  a  gallows  erected  in  front  of  his  house  at 
23  Brighton  street.  This  ghastly  reminder  that  the 
fellow-citizens  of  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  continued 
to  take  a  lively  interest  in  him,  "  was  made  in  real 


2l6  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

workmanship  style,  of  maple  joist  five  inches  through, 
eight  or  nine  feet  high,  for  the  accommodation  of 
two  persons."  Garrison  and  Thompson  were  the  two 
persons  for  whom  these  brave  accommodations  were 
prepared.  But  as  neither  they  nor  their  friends  were 
in  a  mood  to  have  trial  made  of  them,  the  intended 
occupants  consenled  to  give  Boston  a  wide  berth,  and 
to  be  somewhat  particular  that  they  did  not  turn  in 
with  her  while  the  homicidal  fit  lasted. 

This  editing  his  paper  at  long  range,  and  this 
thought  of  life  and  safety  Garrison  did  not  at  all  relish. 
They  grew  more  and  more  irksome  to  his  fearless 
and  earnest  spirit.  For  his  was  a  "  pine-and-fagot  " 
Abolitionism  that  knew  not  the  fear  of  men  or  their 
wrath.  But  now  he  must  needs  have  a  care  for  the 
peace  of  mind  of  his  young  wife,  who  was,  within  a 
few  months,  to  give  birth  to  a  child.  And  her  anxiety 
for  him  was  very  great.  Neither  was  the  anxiety  of 
devoted  friends  and  followers  to  be  lightly  disre 
garded.  All  of  which  detained  the  leader  in  Brook 
lyn  until  the  25th  of  the  month,  when  the  danger 
signals  seemed  to  have  disappeared.  Whereupon  he 
set  out  immediately  for  his  post  in  Boston  to  be  at  the 
head  of  his  forces.  He  found  the  city  in  one  of  those 
strange  pauses  of  popular  excitement,  which  might 
signify  the  ebb  of  the  tide  or  only  the  retreat  of  the 
billows.  He  was  not  inclined  to  let  the  anti-Abolition 
agitation  subside  so  soon,  before  it  had  carried  on  its 
flood  Abolition  principles  to  wider  fields  and  more 
abundant  harvests  in  the  republic.  Anxious  lest  the 
cat-like  temper  of  the  populace  was  falling  into 
indifference  and  apathy,  he  and  his  disciples  took 
occasion  to  prod  it  into  renewed  wakefulness  and 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE.  2I^ 

activity.  The  instruments  used  for  this  purpose  were 
anti-slavery  meetings  and  the  sharp  goad  of  his  Lib 
erator  editorials.  The  city  was  possessed  with  the 
demon  of  slavery,  and  its  foaming  at  the  mouth  was 
the  best  of  all  signs  that  the  Abolition  exorcism  was 
working  effectively.  So,  in  between  the  glittering 
teeth  and  the  terrible  paws  was  thrust  the  madden 
ing  goad,  and  up  sprang  the  mighty  beast  horrible  to 
behold. 

One  of  these  meetings  was  the  anniversary  of  the 
formation  of  the  Boston  Female  Anti-Slavery  Society 
which  fell  on  October  i4th.  The  ladies  issued  their 
notice,  engaged  a  hall,  and  invited  George  Thompson 
to  address  them.  Now  the  foreign  emissary  was 
particularly  exasperating  to  Boston  sensibility  on 
the  subject  of  slavery.  He  was  the  veritable  red 
rag  to  the  pro-slavery  bull.  The  public  announce 
ment,  therefore,  that  he  was  to  speak  in  the  city 
threw  the  public  mind  into  violent  agitation.  The 
Gazette  and  the  Courier  augmented  the  excitement 
by  the  recklessness  with  which  they  denounced  the 
proposed  meeting,  the  former  promising  to  Thomp 
son  a  lynching,  while  the  latter  endeavored  to 
involve  his  associates  who  were  to  the  "  manner 
born "  in  the  popular  outbreak,  which  was  confi 
dently  predicted  in  case  the  "  foreign  vagrant " 
wagged  his  tongue  at  the  time  appointed. 

Notwithstanding  the  rage  of  press  and  people 
the  meeting  was  postponed  through  no  willingness 
on  the  part  of  the  ladies,  but  because  of  the  panic 
of  the  owners  of  the  hall  lest  their  property  should 
be  damaged  or  destroyed  in  case  of  a  riot.  The 
ladies,  thereupon,  appointed  three  o'clock  in  the 


2l8  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 

afternoon  of  October  2ist  as  the  time,  and  the  hall 
adjoining  the  Anti-Slavery  Office,  at  46  Washington 
street,  as  the  place  where  they  would  hold  their 
adjourned  meeting.  This  time  they  made  no  men 
tion  of  Mr.  Thompson's  addressing  them,  merely 
announcing  several  addresses.  In  fact,  an  address 
from  Mr.  Thompson,  in  view  of  the  squally  outlook, 
was  not  deemed  expedient.  To  provide  against 
accidents  and  disasters,  he  left  the  city  on  the  day 
before  the  meeting.  But  this  his  enemies  did  not 
know.  They  confidently  expected  that  he  was  to 
be  one  of  the  speakers.  An  inflammatory  handbill 
distributed  on  the  streets  at  noon  of  the  2ist  seemed 
to  leave  no  doubt  of  this  circumstance  in  the  pro- 
slavery  portion  of  the  city. 

The  handbill  referred  to  ran  as  follows: 

THOMPSON, 
THE  ABOLITIONIST!!! 

That  infamous  foreign  scoundrel,  THOMPSON,  will  hold 
forth  this  afternoon  at  the  Liberator  office,  No.  48  Washing 
ton  street.  The  present  is  a  fair  opportunity  for  the  friends  of 
the  Union  to  snake  Thompson  ottt !  It  will  be  a  contest  be 
tween  the  Abolitionists  and  the  friends  of  the  Union.  A 
purse  of  $100  has  been  raised  by  a  number  of  patriotic  citizens 
to  reward  the  individual  who  shall  first  lay  violent  hands  on 
Thompson,  so  that  he  may  be  brought  to  the  tar-kettle  before 
dark.  Friends  of  the  Union,  be  vigilant ! 

Boston,  Wednesday,  12  o'clock. 

That  Wednesday  forenoon  Garrison  spent  at  the 
anti-slavery  office,  little  dreaming  of  the  peril  which 
was  to  overtake  him  in  that  very  spot  in  the  after 
noon.  He  went  home  to  an  early  dinner,  since  his 
wife  was  a  member  of  the  society,  and  he  himself  was 


MISCHIEF   LET    LOOSE.  219 

set  down  for  an  address.  As  he  wended  his  way 
homeward,  Mischief  and  her  gang  were  afoot  dis 
tributing  the  aforesaid  handbills  "in  the  insurance 
offices,  the  reading-rooms,  all  along  State  street,  in 
the  hotels,  bar-rooms,  etc.,"  and  scattering  it 
"  among  mechanics  at  the  North  End,  who  were 
mightily  taken  with  it."  Garrison  returned  about  a 
half  hour  before  the  time  appointed  for  the  meeting. 
He  found  a  small  crowd  of  about  a  hundred  indi 
viduals  collected  in  front  of  the  building  where  the 
hall  was  situated,  and  on  ascending  to  the  hall  more 
of  the  same  sort,  mostly  young  men,  choking  the 
access  to  it.  They  were  noisy,  and  Garrison  pushed 
his  way  through  them  with  difficulty.  As  he  entered 
the  place  of  meeting  and  took  his  seat  among  the 
ladies,  twenty  had  already  arrived,  the  gang  of  young 
rowdies  recognized  him  and  evinced  this  by  the 
exclamation  :  "That's  Garrison  !  "  The  full  signifi 
cance  of  the  crowd  just  without  the  hall  did  not  seem 
to  have  occurred  to  the  man  whom  they  had  iden 
tified.  He  did  not  know  that  they  were  the  foam 
blown  from  the  mouth  of  a  great  mob  at  the  moment 
filling  the  streets  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  build 
ing  where  he  sat  with  such  serenity  of  spirit.  His 
wife  who  had  followed  him  from  their  home  saw 
what  Garrison  did  not  see.  The  crowd  of  a  hundred 
had  swelled  to  thousands.  It  lay  in  a  huge  irregular 
cross,  jammed  in  between  the  buildings  on  Washing 
ton  street,  the  head  lowering  in  front  of  the  anti- 
slavery  office,  the  foot  reaching  to  the  site  where 
stood  Joy  building,  now  occupied  by  the  Rogers, 
the  right  arm  stretching  along  Court  street  to  the 
Court  House,  and  the  left  encircling  the  old  State 


220  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

House,  City  Hall  and  Post-office  then,  in  a  gigantic 
embrace.  All  hope  of  urging  her  way  through  that 
dense  mass  was  abandoned  by  Mrs.  Garrison,  and  a 
friend,  Mr.  John  E.  Fuller,  escorted  her  to  his  home, 
where  she  passed  the  night. 

Meantime  the  atmosphere  upstairs  at  the  hall  be 
gan  to  betoken  a  fast  approaching  storm.  The 
noises  ominously  increased  on  the  landing  just  out 
side.  The  door  of  the  hall  was  swung  wide  open  and 
the  entrance  filled  with  rioters.  Garrison,  all  uncon 
scious  of  danger,  walked  over  to  these  persons  and 
remonstrated  in  his  grave  way  with  them  in  regard 
to  the  disturbance  which  they  were  producing,winding 
up  with  a  characteristic  bit  of  pleasantry  :  "  Gentle 
men,"  said  he,  "  perhaps  you  are  not  aware  that  this 
is  a  meeting  of  the  Boston  Female  Anti-Slavery 
Society,  called  and  intended  exclusively  for  ladies, 
and  those  only  who  have  been  invited  to  address 
them.  Understanding  this  fact  you  will  not  be  so 
rude  and  indecorous  as  to  thrust  your  presence  upon 
this  meeting."  But  he  added,  "  If,  gentlemen,  any  of 
you  are  ladies  in  disguise — why  only  apprise  me  of  the 
fact,  give  me  your  names,  and  I  will  introduce  you 
to  the  rest  of  your  sex,  and  you  can  take  seats  among 
them  accordingly."  The  power  of  benignity  over 
malignity  lasted  a  few  moments  after  this  little 
speech,  when  the  situation  changed  rapidly  from  bad 
to  worse.  "The  tumult  continually  increased,"  says 
an  eye-witness,  "  with  horrible  execrations,  howling, 
stamping,  and  finally  shrieking  with  rage.  They 
seemed  not  to  dare  to  enter,  notwithstanding  their 
fury,  but  mounted  on  each  other's  shoulders,  so  that 
a  row  of  hostile  heads  appeared  over  the  slight  parti- 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE.  221 

tion,  of  half  the  height  of  the  wall  which  divides 
the  society's  rooms  from  the  landing  place.  We 
requested  them  to  allow  the  door  to  be  shut ;  but 
they  could  not  decide  as  to  whether  the  request 
should  be  granted,  and  the  door  was  opened  and 
shut  with  violence,  till  it  hung  useless  from  its 
hinges." 

Garrison  thinking  that  his  absence  might  quiet 
these  perturbed  spirits  and  so  enable  the  ladies  to 
hold  their  meeting  without  further  molestation  volun 
teered  at  this  juncture  to  the  president  of  the  society 
to  retire  from  the  hall  unless  she  desired  him  to 
remain.  She  did  not  wish  him  to  stay  but  urged  him 
to  go  at  once  not  only  for  the  peace  of  the  meeting 
but  for  his  own  safety.  Garrison  thereupon  left  the 
hall  meaning  at  the  time  to  leave  the  building  as  well, 
but  egress  by  the  way  of  the  landing  and  the  stairs, 
he  directly  perceived  was  impossible,  and  did  what 
seemed  the  next  best  thing,  entered  the  anti-slavery 
office,  separated  from  the  hall  by  a  board  partition. 
Charles  C.  Burleigh  accompanied  him  within  this 
retreat.  The  door  between  the  hall  and  the  office  was 
securely  locked,  and  Garrison  with  that  marvelous 
serenity  of  mind,  which  was  a  part  of  him,  busied 
himself  immediately  with  writing  to  a  friend  an 
account  of  the  scenes  which  were  enacting  in  the  next 
room. 

The  tempest  had  begun  in  the  streets  also.  The 
mob  from  its  five  thousand  throats  were  howling 
"Thompson  !  Thompson  !  "  The  mayor  of  the  city, 
Theodore  Lyman,  appeared  upon  the  scene,  and 
announced  to  the  gentlemen  of  property  and  stand 
ing,  who  were  thus  exercising  their  vocal  organs,  that 


222  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Mr.  Thompson  was  not  at  the  meeting,  was  not  in  the 
city.  But  the  mayor  was  a  modern  Canute  before  the 
sea  of  human  passion,  which  was  rushing  in  over  law 
and  authority.  He  besought  the  rioters  to  disperse, 
but  he  might  as  well  have  besought  the  waves  break 
ing  on  Nastasket  Beach  to  disperse.  Higher,  higher 
rose  the  voices  ;  fiercer,  fiercer  waxed  the  multitude; 
more  and  more  frightful  became  the  uproar.  The 
long-pent-up  excitement  of  the  city  and  its  hatred  of 
Abolitionists  had  broken  loose  at  last  and  the  deluge 
had  come.  The  mayor  tossed  upon  the  human  inun 
dation  as  a  twig  on  a  mountain  stream,  and  with  him 
for  the  nonce  struggled  helplessly  the  police  power  of 
the  town  also. 

Upstairs  in  the  hall  the  society  and  its  president 
are  quite  as  powerless  as  the  mayor  and  the  police 
below.  Miss  Mary  S.  Parker,  the  president,  is  strug 
gling  with  the  customary  opening  exercises.  She  has 
called  the  meeting  to  order,  read  to  the  ladies  some 
passages  from  the  Bible,  and  has  lifted  up  her  voice 
in  prayer  to  the  All  Wise  and  Merciful  One  "  for  direc 
tion  and  succor,  and  the  forgiveness  of  enemies  and 
revilers."  It  is  a  wonderful  scene,  a  marvelous 
example  of  Christian  heroism,  for  in  the  midst  of  the 
hisses  and  threats  and  curses  of  the  rioters,  the  prayer 
of  the  brave  woman  rose  clear  and  untremulous.  But 
now  the  rioters  have  thrown  themselves  against  the 
partition  between  the  landing-place  and  the  hall. 
They  are  trying  to  break  it  down;  now,  they  have 
partially  succeeded.  In  another  moment  they  have 
thrown  themselves  against  the  door  of  the  office 
where  Garrison  is  locked.  The  lower  panel  is  dashed 
in.  Through  the  opening  they  have  caught  sight  of 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE.  223 

their  object,  Garrison,  serenely  writing  at  his  desk. 
"  There  he  is !  That's  Garrison  !  Out  with  the 
scoundrel !  "  and  other  such  words  of  recognition  and 
execration,  burst  from  one  and  another  of  the  mob. 
The  shattering  of  the  partition,  the  noise  of  splitting 
and  ripping  boards,  the  sharp  crash  caused  by  the 
shivering  of  the  office  door,  the  loud  and  angry  out 
cries  of  the  rioters  warn  the  serene  occupant  of  the 
office  that  his  position  has  become  one  of  extreme 
peril.  But  he  does  not  become  excited.  His  com 
posure  does  not  forsake  him.  Instead  of  attempting  to 
escape,  he  simply  turns  to  his  friend,  Burleigh,  with 
the  words,  "You  may  as  well  open  the  door,  and  let 
them  come  in  and  do  their  worst."  But  fortunately, 
Burleigh  was  in  no  such  extremely  non-resistant 
mood. 

The  advent  of  the  mayor  and  the  constables  upon 
the  scene  at  this  point  rescued  Garrison  from  imme 
diately  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  mob,  who  were 
cleared  out  of  the  hall  and  from  the  stairway.  Now  the 
voice  of  the  mayor  was  heard  urging  the  ladies  to  go 
home  as  it  was  dangerous  to  remain ;  and  now  the  voice 
of  Maria  Weston  Chapman,  replying  :  "  If  this  is 
the  last  bulwark  of  freedom,  we  may  as  well  die  here 
as  anywhere."  The  ladies  finally  decided  to  retire, 
and  their  exit  diverted,  while  the  operation  lasted,  the 
attention  of  the  huge,  cat-like  creature  from  their 
object  in  the  anti-slavery  office.  When  the  passing 
of  the  ladies  had  ceased,  the  old  fury  of  the  mob 
against  Garrison  returned.  "  Out  with  him!"  "  Lynch 
him!"  rose  in  wild  uproar  from  thousands  in  the 
streets.  But  again  the  attention  of  the  huge,  cat-like 
creature  was  diverted  from  its  object  in  the  second 


224  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

story  of  the  building  before  which  it  was  lashing 
itself  into  frenzy.  This  time  it  was  the  anti-slavery 
sign  which  hung  from  the  rooms  of  the  society  over 
the  sidewalk.  The  mob  had  caught  sight  of  it,  and 
directly  set  up  a  yell  for  it.  The  sensation  of  utter 
helplessness  in  the  presence  of  the  multitude  seemed 
at  this  juncture  to  return  to  the  chief  magistrate  of 
the  city.  It  was  impossible  to  control  the  cataract- 
like  passions  of  the  rioters.  He  heard  their  awful 
roar  for  the  sign.  The  din  had  risen  to  terrific  pro 
portions.  The  thought  of  what  might  happen  next 
appalled  him.  The  mob  might  begin  to  bombard  the 
sign  with  brickbats,  and  from  the  sign  pass  to  the 
building,  and  from  the  building  to  the  constables, 
and  then — but  the  mayor  glanced  not  beyond,  for  he 
had  determined  to  appease  the  fury  of  the  mob  by 
throwing  down  to  it  the  hateful  sign.  A  constable 
detached  it,  and  hurled  it  down  to  the  rioters  in  the 
street.  But  by  the  act  the  mayor  had  signified  that 
the  rule  of  law  had  collapsed,  and  the  rule  of  the 
mob  had  really  begun.  When  the  rioters  had  wreaked 
their  wrath  upon  the  emblem  of  freedom,  they  were 
in  the  mood  for  more  violence.  The  appetite  for  de 
struction,  it  was  seen,  had  not  been  glutted;  only 
whetted.  Garrison's  situation  was  now  extremely 
critical.  He  could  no  longer  remain  where  he  was, 
for  the  mob  would  invade  the  building  and  hunt  him 
like  hounds  from  cellar  to  garret.  He  must  leave  the 
building  without  delay.  To  escape  from  the  front 
was  out  of  the  question.  A  way  of  escape  must, 
therefore,  be  found  in  the  rear.  All  of  these  consid 
erations  the  mayor  and  Garrison's  friends  urged 
upon  him.  The  good  man  fell  in  with  this  counsel, 


MISCHIEF   LET   LOOSE.  22$ 

and,  with  a  faithful  friend,  proceeded  to  the  rear  of 
the  building,  where  from  a  window  he  dropped  to  a 
shed,  but  in  doing  so  was  very  nearly  precipitated  to 
the  ground.  After  picking  himself  up  he  passed  into  a 
carpenter's  shop,  meaning  to  let  himself  down  into 
Wilson's  Lane,  now  Devonshire  street,  but  the 
myriad-eyed  mob,  which  was  searching  every  portion 
of  the  building  for  their  game,  espied  him  at  this 
point,  and  with  that  set  up  a  great  shout.  The  work 
men  came  to  the  aid  of  the  fugitive  by  closing  the 
door  of  the  carpenter's  shop  in  the  face  of  his  pur 
suers.  The  situation  seemed  desperate.  Retreat 
from  the  front  was  cut  off;  escape  from  the  rear  an 
ticipated  and  foiled.  Garrison  perceived  the  futility 
of  any  further  attempts  to  elude  the  mob,  and  pro 
posed  in  his  calm  way  to  deliver  himself  up  to  them. 
But  his  faithful  Achates,  John  Reid  Campbell,  advised 
him  that  it  was  his  duty  to  avoid  the  mob  as  long  as 
it  was  possible  to  do  so.  Garrison  thereupon  made 
a  final  effort  to  get  away.  He  retreated  up  stairs, 
where  his  friend  and  a  lad  got  him  into  a  corner  of 
the  room  and  tried  to  conceal  his  whereabouts  by 
piling  some  boards  in  front  of  him.  But,  by  that 
time,  the  rioters  had  entered  the  building,  and  within 
a  few  moments  had  broken  into  the  room  where  Gar 
rison  was  in  hiding.  They  found  Mr.  Reid,  and  de 
manded  of  him  where  Garrison  was.  But  Reid 
firmly  refused  to  tell.  They  then  led  him  to  a  win 
dow,  and  exhibited  him  to  the  mob  in  the  Lane, 
advising  them  that  it  was  not  Garrison,  but  Garri 
son's  and  Thompson's  friend,  who  knows  where  Gar 
rison  is,  but  refuses  to  tell.  A  shout  of  fierce  exulta 
tion  from  below  greeted  this  announcement.  Almost 


226  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

immediately  afterward,  Garrison  was  discovered  and 
dragged  furiously  to  the  window,  with  the  intention 
of  hurling  him  thence  to  the  pavement.  Some  of  the 
rioters  were  for  doing  this,  while  others  were  for 
milder  measures.  "  Don't  let  us  kill  him  outright !  " 
they  begged.  So  his  persecutors  relented,  coiled  a 
rope  around  his  body  instead,  and  bade  him  descend 
to  the  street.  The  great  man  was  never  greater 
than  at  that  moment.  With  extraordinary  meekness 
and  benignity  he  saluted  his  enemies  in  the  street. 
From  the  window  he  bowed  to  the  multitude  who 
were  thirsting  for  his  destruction,  requesting  them 
to  wait  patiently,  for  he  was  coming  to  them.  Then 
he  stepped  intrepidly  down  the  ladder  raised  for 
the  purpose,  and  into  the  seething  sea  of  human 
passion. 

Garrison  must  now  have  been  speedily  torn  to 
pieces  had  he  not  been  quickly  seized  by  two  or  three 
powerful  men,  who  were  determined  to  save  him 
from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  mob.  They 
were  men  of  great  muscular  strength,  but  the  muscular 
strength  of  two  or  three  giants  would  have  proven 
utterly  unequal  to  the  rescue,  and  this  Mr.  Garrison's 
deliverers  evidently  appreciated.  For  while  they  em 
ployed  their  powerful  arms,  they  also  employed  strat 
agem  as  well  to  effect  their  purpose.  They  shouted 
anon  as  they  fought  their  way  through  the  excited 
throng,  "  He  is  an  American!  He  shan't  be  hurt!  "  and 
other  such  words  which  divided  the  mind  of  the  mob, 
arousing  among  some  sympathy  for  the  good  man. 
By  this  means  he  was  with  difficulty  got  out  of  Wil 
son's  lane  into  State  street,  in  the  rear  of  the  old  State 
House.  The  champion  was  now  on  historic  ground, 


MISCHIEF   LET    LOOSE.  227 

ground  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  Crispus  Attucks 
and  his  fellow-martyrs  sixty-five  years  before.  His 
hat  was  lost,  much  of  his  clothing  was  stripped  from 
his  body,  he  was  without  his  customary  glasses,  and 
was  therefore  practically  blind.  He  could  hear  the 
awful  clamor,  the  mighty  uproar  of  the  mob,  but  he 
could  not  distinguish  them  one  from  another,  friend 
from  foe.  Nevertheless  he  "  walked  with  head  erect, 
calm  countenance  flashing  eyes  like  a  martyr  going 
to  the  stake,  full  of  faith  and  manly  hope  "  accord 
ing  to  the  testimony  of  an  eye-witness.  Garrison 
himself  has  thrown  light  on  the  state  of  his  mind 
during  the  ordeal.  "  The  promises  of  God,"  he  after 
ward  remembered,  sustained  his  soul,  "  so  that  it  was 
not  only  divested  of  fear,  but  ready  to  sing  aloud  for 
joy." 

The  news  now  reached  the  ears  of  the  mayor  that 
Garrison  was  in  the  hands  of  the  mob.  Thereupon 
the  feeble  but  kindly  magistrate  began  to  act  afresh 
the  role  of  the  twig  in  the  mountain  stream.  He  and 
his  constables  struggled  helplessly  in  the  human  cur 
rent  rushing  and  raging  around  City  Hall,  the  head 
and  seat  of  municipal  law  and  authority.  Without 
the  aid  of  private  citizens  Garrison  must  inevitably 
have  perished  in  the  commotions  which  presently 
reached  their  climax  in  violence  and  terror.  He  was 
in  the  rear  of  City  Hall  when  the  mayor  caught  up 
to  him  and  his  would-be  rescuers.  The  mayor  per 
ceived  the  extremity  of  the  situation,  and  said  to  the 
Faneuil  Hall  giants  who  had  hold  of  Garrison,  "Take 
him  into  my  office,"  which  was  altogether  more  easily 
said  than  done.  For  the  rioters  have  raised  the  cry 
"  to  the  Frog  Pond  with  him!  "  Which  order  will  be 


228  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

carried  out,  that  of  the  magistrate  or  that  of  the  mob  ? 

These  were  horrible  moments  while  the  two  hung 
trembling  in  the  balance.  But  other  private  citizens 
coming  to  the  assistance  of  the  mayor  struck  the 
scales  for  the  moment  in  his  favor,  and  Garrison  was 
finally  hustled,  and  thrust  by  main  force  into  the 
south  door  of  the  City  Hall  and  carried  up  to  the 
mayor's  room.  But  the  mob  had  immediately  effec 
ted  an  entrance  into  the  building  through  the  north 
door  and  filled  the  lower  hall.  The  mayor  now 
addressed  the  pack,  strove  manfully  in  his  feeble  way 
to  prevail  upon  the  human  wolves  to  observe  order, 
to  sustain  the  law  and  the  honor  of  the  city,  he  even 
intimated  to  them  that  he  was  ready  to  lay  down  his 
life  on  the  spot  to  maintain  the  law  and  preserve 
order.  Then  he  got  out  on  the  ledge  over  the  south 
door  and  spoke  in  a  similar  strain  to  the  mob  on  the 
street.  But  alas !  he  knew  not  the  secret  for  revers 
ing  the  Circean  spell  by  which  gentlemen  of  property 
and  standing  in  the  community  had  been  suddenly 
transformed  into  a  wolfish  rabble. 

The  increasing  tumult  without  soon  warned  the 
authorities  that  what  advantage  the  mayor  may  have 
obtained  in  the  contest  with  the  mob  was  only  tem 
porary  and  that  their  position  was  momentarily  becom 
ing  more  perilous  and  less  tenable.  It  was  impos 
sible  to  say  to  what  extreme  of  violence  a  multitude 
so  infuriated  would  not  go  to  get  their  prey.  It 
seemed  to  the  now  thoroughly  alarmed  mayor  that 
the  mob  might  in  their  frenzy  attack  the  City  Hall 
to  effect  their  purpose.  There  was  one  building  in 
the  city,  which  the  guardians  of  the  law  evidently 
agreed  could  resist  the  rage  of  the  populace,  and 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE.  229 

'that  building  was  the  jail.  To  this  last  stronghold 
of  Puritan  civilization  the  authorities  and  the  powers 
that  were,  fell  back  as  a  dernier  resort  to  save  Garri 
son's  life.  But  even  in  this  utmost  pitch  and  extrem 
ity,  when  law  was  trampled  in  the  streets,  when 
authority  was  a  reed  shaken  in  a  storm,  when 
anarchy  had  drowned  order  in  the  bosom  of  the 
town,  the  Anglo-Saxon  passion  for  legal  forms  as 
serted  itself.  The  good  man,  hunted  for  his  life, 
must  forsooth  be  got  into  the  only  refuge  which 
promised  him  security  from  his  pursuers  by  a  regular 
judicial  commitment  as  a  disturber  of  the  peace.  Is 
there  anything  at  once  so  pathetic  and  farcical  in  the 
Universal  history  of  mobs  ? 

Pathetic  and  farcical  to  be  sure,  but  it  was  also 
well  meant,  and  therefore  we  will  not  stop  to  quarrel 
with  men  who  were  equal  to  the  perpetration  of  a  legal 
fiction  so  full  of  the  comedy  and  tragedy  of  civilized 
society.  But  enough  —  the  municipal  wiseacres 
having  put  their  heads  together  and  evolved  the  bril 
liant  plan  of  committing  the  prophet  as  a  disturber  of 
the  peace,  immediately  set  about  its  execution,  which 
developed  in  the  sequence  into  a  bird  of  altogether 
another  color.  For  a  more  perilous  and  desperate 
device  to  preserve  Garrison's  life  could  not  well 
have  been  hit  upon.  How  was  he  ever  to  be  got 
out  of  the  building  and  through  that  sea  of  ferocious 
faces  surging  and  foaming  around  it.  First  then  by 
disguising  his  identity  by  sundry  changes  in  his 
apparel.  He  obtained  a  pair  of  trousers  from  one 
kindly  soul,  another  gave  him  a  coat,  a  third  lent  him 
a  stock,  a  fourth  furnished  him  a  cap.  A  hack  was 
summoned  and  stationed  at  the  south  door,  a  posse 


230  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

of  constables  drew  up  and  made  an  open  way  from 
the  door  to  it.  Another  hack  was  placed  in  readiness 
at  the  north  door.  The  hack  at  the  south  door  was 
only  a  ruse  to  throw  the  mob  off  the  scent  of  their 
prey,  while  he  was  got  out  of  the  north  door  and 
smuggled  into  the  other  hack.  Up  to  this  point,  the 
plan  worked  well,  but  the  instant  after  Garrison  had 
been  smuggled  into  the  hack  he  was  identified  by  the 
mob,  and  then  ensued  a  scene  which  defies  descrip 
tion  ;  no  writer  however  skillful,  may  hope  to  repro 
duce  it.  The  rioters  rushed  madly  upon  the  vehicle 
with  the  cry:  "  Cut  the  traces  !  Cut  the  reins  ! "  They 
flung  themselves  upon  the  horses,  hung  upon  the 
wheels,  dashed  open  the  doors,  the  driver  the  while 
belaboring  their  heads  right  and  left  with  a  powerful 
whip,  which  he  also  laid  vigorously  on  the  backs  of 
his  horses.  For  a  moment  it  looked  as  if  a  catastrophe 
was  unavoidable,  but  the  next  saw  the  startled  horses 
plunging  at  break-neck  speed  with  the  hack  up  Court 
street  and  the  mob  pursuing  it  with  yells  of  baffled 
rage.  Then  began  a  thrilling,  a  tremendous  race  for 
life  and  Leverett  street  jail.  The  vehicle  flew  along 
Court  street  to  Bodoin  square,  but  the  rioters,  with 
fell  purpose  flew  hardly  less  swiftly  in  its  track. 
Indeed  the  pursuit  of  the  pack  was  so  close  that  the 
hackman  did  not  dare  to  drive  directly  to  the  jail  but 
reached  it  by  a  detour  through  Cambridge  and  Blos 
som  streets.  Even  then  the  mob  pressed  upon  the 
heels  of  the  horses  as  they  drew  up  before  the  portals 
of  the  old  prison,  which  shut  not  an  instant  too  soon 
upon  the  editor  of  the  Liberator,  who  was  saved  from 
a  frightful  fate  to  use  a  Biblical  phrase  but  by  the 
skin  of  his  teeth. 


MISCHIEF    LET    LOOSE.  2$I 

Here  the  reformer  safe  from  the  wrath  of  his  foes, 
was  locked  in  a  cell ;  and  here,  during  the  evening, 
with  no  abatement  of  his  customary  cheerfulness  and 
serenity  of  spirit,  he  received  several  of  his  anxious 
friends,  Whittier  among  them,  whom  through  the 
grated  bars  he  playfully  accosted  thus  :  "You  see  my 
accommodations  are  so  limited,  that  I  cannot  ask  you 
to  spend  the  night  with  me."  That  night  in  his 
prison  cell,  and  on  his  rude  prison  bed,  he  slept  the 
sleep  of  the  just  man,  sweet  and  long  : 

"  When  peace  within  the  bosom  reigns, 
*And  conscience  gives  th'  approving  voice ; 
Though  bound  the  human  form  in  chains, 
Yet  can  the  soul  aloud  rejoice. 

"  'Tis  true,  my  footsteps  are  confined — 
I  cannot  range  beyond  this  cell  — 
But  what  can  circumscribe  my  mind, 
To  chain  the  winds  attempt  as  well ! " 

The  above  stanzas  he  wrote  the  next  morning  on 
the  walls  of  his  cell.  Besides  this  one  he  made  two 
other  inscriptions  there,  to  stand  as  memorabilia  of 
the  black  drama  enacted  in  Boston  on  the  afternoon 
of  October  21,  1835. 

After  being  put  through  the  solemn  farce  of  an 
examination  in  a  court,  extemporized  in  the  jail,  Gar 
rison  was  discharged  from  arrest  as  a  disturber  of  the 
peace  !  But  the  authorities,  dreading  a  repetition  of 
the  scenes  of  the  day  before,  prayed  him  to  leave  the 
city  for  a  few  days,  which  he  did,  a  deputy  sheriff 
driving  him  to  Canton,  where  he  boarded  the  train 
from  Boston  to  Providence,  containing  his  wife,  and 
together  they  went  thence  to  her  father's  at  Brook- 


232  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

lyn,  Conn.  The  apprehensions  of  the  authorities  in 
respect  of  the  danger  of  a  fresh  attack  upon  him  were 
unquestionably  well  founded,  inasmuch  as  diligent 
search  was  made  for  him  in  all  of  the  outgoing  stages 
and  cars  from  the  city  that  morning. 

In  this  wise  did  pro-slavery,  patriotic  Boston  trans 
late  into  works  her  sympathy  for  the  South. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

FLOTSAM    AND     JETSAM. 

THE  results  of  the  storm  became  immediately  mani 
fest  in  several  ways.  Such  a  commotion  did  not 
leave  things  in  precisely  the  state  in  which  they  were 
on  the  morning  of  the  memorable  day  on  which  it 
struck  the  city.  The  moral  landscape  and  geography 
of  the  community  had  sensibly  changed  at  its  close. 
The  full  extent  of  the  alteration  wrought  could  not 
at  once  be  seen,  nor  was  it  at  once  felt.  But  that 
there  were  deep  and  abiding  changes  made  by  it  in 
the  court  of  public  opinion  in  Boston  and  Massachu 
setts  on  the  subject  of  slavery  there  is  little  doubt. 
It  disgusted  and  alarmed  many  individuals  who  had 
hitherto  acted  in  unison  with  the  social,  business,  and 
political  elements,  which  were  at  the  bottom  of  the 
riot.  Francis  Jackson,  for  instance,  had  been  one  of 
the  fifteen  hundred  signers  of  the  call  for  the  great 
Faneuil  Hall  meeting  of  the  2ist  of  August.  But  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  2ist  of  October  he  threw  his 
house  open  to  the  Boston  Female  Anti-Slavery  Soci 
ety,  after  its  meeting  had  been  broken  up  by  the  mob. 
It  seemed  to  him  then  that  it  was  no  longer  a  mere 
struggle  for  the  freedom  of  the  slave,  but  for  the  right 
of  free  speech  and  free  discussion  as  well.  Dr.  Henry 
I.  Bowditch,  a  young  man,  in  1835,  eminent  professor 
and  physician  subsequently,  dates  from  that  after 
noon  of  mob  violence  his  conversion  to  Abolitionism. 

(233) 


234  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

In  that  selfsame  hour  seeds  of  resistance  to  slavery 
were  sown  in  two  minds  of  the  first  order  in  the  city 
and  State.  Wendell  Phillips  was  a  spectator  in 
the  streets  that  day,  and  the  father  of  Charles  Sum- 
ner,  the  sheriff  at  the  time,  fought  bravely  to  save 
Garrison  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  mob. 
The  great  riot  gave  those  young  men  their  first 
summons  to  enter  the  service  of  freedom.  It  was 
not  long  afterward  probably  that  they  both  began 
to  read  the  Liberator.  From  that  event  many  intelli 
gent  and  conservative  people  associated  slavery  with 
lynch  law  and  outrage  upon  the  rights  of  free  speech 
and  popular  assembly. 

This  anti-slavery  reaction  of  the  community  re 
ceived  practical  demonstration  in  the  immediate 
increase  of  subscribers  to  the  Liberator.  Twelve  new 
names  were  added  to  the  subscription  list  in  one  day. 
It  received  significant  illustration  also  in  Garrison's 
nomination  to  the  legislature.  In  this  way  did  be 
tween  seventy  and  eighty  citizens  testify  their  sym 
pathy  for  him  and  their  reprobation  of  mob  rule.  In 
yet  another  way  was  its  influence  felt,  and  this  was 
in  the  renewed  zeal  and  activity  which  it  instantly 
produced  on  the  part  of  the  Abolitionists  themselves. 
It  operated  upon  the  movement  as  a  powerful  stimu 
lus  to  fresh  sacrifices  and  unwearied  exertions. 
George  W.  Benson,  Garrison's  brother-in-law,  led  off 
bravely  in  this  respect,  as  the  following  extract  from 
a  letter  written  by  him  in  Boston,  two  days  after  the 
riot,  to  Garrison,  at  Brooklyn,  well  illustrates.  He 
had  come  up  to  the  city  from  Providence  the  night 
before,  in  quest  of  his  sister  and  her  husband.  Not 
finding  them,  he  turned  to  the  cause  which  had  been 


FLOTSAM   AND   JETSAM.  235 

so  ruthlessly  attacked,  and  this  is  the  sort  of  care 
which  he  bestowed  upon  it.  He  got  Burleigh  to 
write  a  general  relation  of  the  mob  for  publication  in 
the  Liberator,  and  Whittier  to  indite  another,  with  an 
appeal  to  the  public,  the  same  to  be  published  im 
mediately,  and  of  which  he  ordered  three  thousand 
copies  for  himself. 

"  I  further  ordered,"  he  writes,  "  one  thousand 
copies  of  A.  Grimke's  letter,  with  your  introductory 
remarks,  and  your  address  published  in  the  Liberator 
several  weeks  since,  with  your  name  appended,  and 
Whittier's  poetry  on  the  times,  in  a  pamphlet  form. 
I  urged  all  our  friends  to  redouble  their  exertions. 
They  seemed  well  disposed  to  accept  the  advice,  as 
nothing  will  now  avail  but  thorough  measures.  Lib 
erty  or  Death  !  " 

This  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  indomitable,  indefati 
gable  spirit  which  was  born  of  the  attempt  to  put 
Abolitionism  down  by  lawlessness  and  violence.  In 
deed,  the  "  Broad-Cloth  Mob,"  viewed  in  the  light  of 
the  important  consequences  which  followed  it,  was 
equal  to  a  hundred  anti-slavery  meetings,  or  a  dozen 
issues  of  the  Liberator. 

It  is  a  curious  and  remarkable  circumstance  that, 
on  the  very  day  of  the  Boston  mob,  there  occurred 
one  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  which  was  followed  by 
somewhat  similar  results.  An  anti-slavery  conven 
tion  was  attacked  and  broken  up  by  a  mob  of  "  gen 
tlemen  of  property  and  standing  in  the  community," 
under  the  active  leadership  of  a  member  of  Congress. 
Here  there  was  an  apparent  defeat  for  the  Abolition 
ists,  but  the  consequences  which  followed  the  outrage 
proved  it  a  blessing  in  disguise.  For  the  cause  made 


236  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

many  gains  thereby,  and  conspicuously  among  them 
was  Gerrit  Smith,  ever  afterward  one  of  its  most  elo 
quent  and  munificent  supporters.  If  anti-slavery  meet 
ings  made  converts  by  tens,  anti-slavery  mobs  made 
them  by  hundreds.  The  enemies  of  freedom  builded 
better  than  they  knew  or  intended,  and  Garrison  had 
the  weightiest  of  reasons  for  feeling  thankful  to  them 
for  the  involuntary,  yet  vast  aid  and  comfort  which 
their  pro-slavery  virulence  and  violence  were  bringing 
him  and  the  anti-slavery  movement  throughout  the 
free  States.  Example:  in  1835-36,  the  great  mob  year, 
as  many  as  three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  societies 
were  organized  in  the  North  for  the  immediate  aboli 
tion  of  slavery. 

The  mob  did  likewise  help  towards  a  satisfactory 
solution  of  the  riddle  propounded  by  Garrison  : 
"  Shall  the  Liberator  die  ?  "  The  fresh  access  of  anti- 
slavery  strength,  both  in  respect  of  zeal  and  num 
bers,  begotten  by  it,  exerted  no  slight  influence  on 
the  longevity  of  the  Liberator.  Poor  the  paper  con 
tinued,  and  embarrassed  the  editor  for  many  a  month 
thereafter,  but  as  an  anti-slavery  instrument  its  sur 
vival  may  be  said  from  that  proceeding  to  have  be 
come  a  necessity.  To  allow  the  Liberator  to  die  at 
this  juncture  would  have  been  such  a  confession  of 
having  been  put  down,  such  an  ignominious  surren 
der  to  the  mobocrats  as  the  Abolitionists  of  Boston 
would  have  scorned  to  make.  "  I  trust,"  wrote 
Samuel  E.  Sewall,  "  there  will  not  be  even  one  week's 
interruption  in  the  publication  of  the  Liberator''  Ex 
uno  disce  omnes.  He  but  voiced  the  sentiment  of  the 
editor's  disciples  and  associates  in  the  city,  in  the 
State,  and  in  New  England  as  well. 


FLOTSAM    AND    JETSAM.  237 

Besides  these  larger  consequences  there  were  others 
of  a  more  personal  and  less  welcome  character. 
The  individual  suffers  but  the  cause  goes  for 
ward.  Property-holders  in  Boston  after  the  riot 
were  not  at  all  disposed  to  incur  the  risk  of  rent 
ing  property  to  such  disturbers  of  the  peace 
as  Garrison  and  the  Liberator.  The  owner  of 
his  home  on  Brighton  street  was  thrown  into  such 
alarm  for  the  safety  of  his  property,  if  Garrison  con 
tinued  to  occupy  it,  that  he  requested  the  cancella 
tion  of  the  lease  and  the  vacation  of  the  premises. 
Garrison  and  his  friends,  all  things  considered, 
decided  that  it  was  the  part  of  wisdom  to  accede  to 
the  request — although  this  breaking  up  of  his  home 
was  a  sore  trial  to  the  young  husband  in  more  ways 
than  one. 

The  landlord  of  the  building  where  was  located 
the  Liberator  office  promptly  notified  the  publishers 
to  remove  the  paper  not  many  mornings  after  the 
mob.  This  was  particularly  hard  luck,  inasmuch 
as  the  most  dilligent  quest  for  another  local  habita 
tion  for  the  paper,  failed  of  success.  No  one  was 
willing  to  imperil  his  property  by  letting  a  part  of 
it  to  such  a  popularly  odious  enterprise.  So  that 
not  only  had  the  household  furniture  of  the  editor  to 
be  stored,  but  the  office  effects  of  the  paper  as  well. 
The  inextinguishable  pluck  and  zeal  of  Garrison  and 
his  Boston  coadjutors  never  showed  to  better  advan 
tage  than  when  without  a  place  to  print  the  Liberator, 
the  paper  was  "  set  up  in  driblets  "  in  other  offices  at 
extraordinary  expense,  and  sent  out  week  after  week 
to  tell  the  tale  of  the  mob,  and  to  preach  with  undi- 
minished  power  the  gospel  of  universal  emancipation. 


238  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

But  more  afflictive  to  the  feelings  of  the  reformei 
than  the  loss  of  his  home,  or  that  of  the  office  of  the 
Liberator,  was  the  loss  of  his  friend,  George  Thomp 
son.  It  seemed  to  him  when  the  English  orator 
departed  that  "the  paragon  of  modern  eloquence," 
and  "  the  benefactor  of  two  nations,"  had  left  these 
shores.  Garrison's  grief  was  as  poignant  as  his 
humiliation  was  painful.  George  Thompson  had 
come  hither  only  as  a  friend  of  America,  and 
America  had  pursued  him  with  the  most  relentless 
malice.  The  greatest  precautions  were  taken  after 
the  "  Broadcloth  Mob  "  to  ensure  his  safety.  The 
place  of  his  concealment  was  kept  a  secret  and  com 
mitted  only  to  a  few  tried  friends.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  had  these  precautions  not  been  observed 
and  his  hiding  place  been  discovered  by  the  ruffians 
of  the  city,  his  life  would  have  been  attempted.  In 
deed  it  is  almost  as  certain  that  had  he  ventured  to 
show  himself  in  public  he  would  have  been  murdered 
in  broad  daylight  in  any  of  the  large  towns  and  cities 
of  Massachusetts.  His  mission  was  clearly  at  an 
end  unless  he  was  determined  to  invite  martyrdom. 
In  these  circumstances  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
to  smuggle  him  out  of  the  country  at  the  first  oppor 
tunity.  On  Sunday,  November  8,  the  anxiously 
looked-for  moment  came  when  George  Thompson 
was  put  upon  a  packet,  in  which  he  sailed  for  St. 
Johns,  New  Brunswick,  whence  he  subsequently  took 
passage  for  England.  Garrison  was  inconsolable. 
"  Who  now  shall  go  forth  to  argue  our  cause  in  pub 
lic,"  he  sadly  asked,  "  with  subtle  sophists  and  inso 
lent  scoffers  ?  "  little  dreaming  that  there  was  then 
approaching  him  out  of  the  all-hail  hereafter  a 


FLOTSAM   AND   JETSAM.  239 

greater  in  these  identical  respects  than  George 
Thompson,  indisputably  great  as  he  was. 

It  was  a  blessed  refuge  to  Garrison,  the  Benson 
homestead  of  Brooklyn,  termed  Friendship's  Valley. 
Hunted  as  a  partridge  by  his  enemies  here  he  found  the 
quiet,  and  sympathy,  and  the  right  royal  welcome  and 
affection  for  which  his  heart  panted  amidst  the  dust, 
and  din,  and  dangers  of  the  crusade  against  slavery. 
But  grateful  as  were  the  domestic  sweets  of  Friend 
ship's  Valley,  his  was  altogether  too  militant  and 
masterful  a  spirit  to  yield  himself  without  a  struggle 
to  the  repose  which  it  offered.  He  did  not  at  all 
relish  the  idea  of  being  a  forced  exile  from  Boston, 
of  being  obliged  to  edit  the  Liberator  at  such  long 
range.  But  his  friends  urged  him  to  submit  to  the 
one,  and  do  the  other,  both  on  grounds  of  economy 
and  common  prudence.  He  was  almost  super- 
anxious  lest  it  be  said  that  the  fear  of  the  mob  drove 
him  out  of  Boston,  and  that  the  fear  of  it  kept  him 
out.  This  super-anxiety  in  that  regard  his  friends  to  a 
certain  degree  shared  with  him.  It  was  a  phase  of 
Abolition  grit.  Danger  attracted  this  new  species  of 
reformers  as  a  magnet  draws  iron.  Instead  of  run 
ning  away  from  it,  they  were,  with  one  accord,  for 
ever  rushing  into  it.  And  the  leader  in  Brooklyn 
was  for  rushing  back  to  Boston,  where,  if  one  chanced 
to  sow  the  wind  in  the  morning,  he  might  be  mor 
ally  certain  of  reaping  the  whirlwind  in  the  after 
noon. 

Two  weeks  after  he  had  been  secretly  conveyed  to 
Canton  by  Deputy  Sheriff  Parkman,  being  the  day  of 
his  discharge  from  Leverett  street  jail,  he  was  back 
again  in  Boston.  The  popular  excitement  had  sub- 


240  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

sided.  He  showed  himself  freely  in  the  streets  and 
was  nowhere  molested.  One  day,  however,  while  at 
the  anti-slavery  office  on  Washington  street,  he  wit 
nessed  what  was  perhaps  a  final  manifestation  of  the 
cat-like  spirit  of  the  great  mob.  A  procession  passed 
by  with  band  and  music,  bearing  aloft  a  large  board 
on  which  were  represented  George  Thompson  and  a 
black  woman  with  this  significant  allusion  to  the  riot, 
made  as  if  addressed  to  himself  by  his  dusky  com 
panion  in  disgrace :  "  When  are  we  going  to  have 
another  meeting,  Brother  Thompson  ?"  The  cat-like 
creature  had  lapsed  into  a  playful  mood,  but  its  play 
fulness  would  have  quickly  given  place  to  an  alto 
gether  different  fit  did  it  but  know  that  Garrison  was 
watching  it  from  the  window  of  the  very  room  where 
a  few  weeks  before  he  had  nearly  fallen  into  its 
clutches. 

Garrison  remained  in  Boston  two  weeks,  going 
about  the  city,  wherever  and  whenever  business  or 
duty  called  him  in  a  perfectly  fearless  way.  He  left 
on  the  afternoon  of  November  i8th.  On  that  same 
afternoon  the  Boston  Female  Anti-Slavery  Society 
held  a  memorable  meeting  at  the  house  of  Francis 
Jackson.  It  was  then  that  Harriet  Martineau,  another 
foreign  emissary,  avowed  her  entire  agreement  with 
the  principles  of  the  Abolitionists,  which  subjected 
her  to  social  ostracism,  and  to  unlimited  abuse  from 
the  pro-slavery  press  of  the  city. 

The  new  hatred  of  slavery  which  the  mob  had 
aroused  in  Boston  found  heroic  expression  in  a  letter 
of  Francis  Jackson's  replying  to  a  vote  of  thanks  of 
the  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society  to  him  for 
his  hospitality  to  the  ladies  after  their  meeting  was 


FLOTSAM  AND  JETSAM.  241 

broken  up  by  the  mob.  Mr.  Jackson  in  his  answer 
points  with  emphasis  to  the  fact  that  his  hospitality 
had  a  double  aim,  one  was  the  accommodation  of  the 
ladies,  the  other  the  preservation  of  the  right  of  free 
discussion.  In  his  regard  a  foundation  principle  of 
free  institutions  had  been  assailed.  "  Happily,"  he 
shrewdly  observed,  "  one  point  seems  already  to  be 
gaining  universal  assent,  that  slavery  cannot  long 
survive  free  discussion.  Hence  the  efforts  of  the  friends, 
and  apologists  of  slavery  to  break  down  this  right. 
And  hence  the  immense  stake  which  the  enemies  of 
slavery  hold,  in  behalf  of  freedom  and  mankind,  in 
its  preservation.  The  contest  is,  therefore,  substan 
tially  between  liberty  and  slavery. 

"As  slavery  cannot  exist  with  free  discussion,  so 
neither  can  liberty  breathe  without  it.  Losing  this, 
we,  too,  shall  be  no  longer  free  men  indeed,  but  little, 
if  at  all,  superior  to  the  millions  we  now  seek  to 
emancipate."  This  apprehension  and  spirit  of  resist 
ance,  voiced  by  Francis  Jackson,  was  Garrison's  new 
ally,  which,  phoenix-like,  was  born  out  of  the  ashes 
of  that  terrific  attempt  of  his  enemies  to  effect  his 
destruction,  known  as  the  "Broad-Cloth  Mob." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    BAROMETER    CONTINUES    TO    FALL. 

HAVING  made  trial  of  the  strong  arm  of  the  mob  ae 
an  instrument  for  putting  down  the  Abolitionists,  and 
been  quite  confounded  by  its  unexpected  energy  and 
unmanageableness,  Boston  was  well  disposed  to  lay 
the  weapon  aside  as  much  too  dangerous  for  use.  For 
the  wild-cat-like  creature  might  take  it  into  its  head 
when  once  it  had  got  a  taste  of  blood,  to  suppress 
some  other  isms  in  the  community  besides  Aboli 
tionism.  No,  no,  the  gentlemen  of  property  and 
standing  in  the  community  had  too  much  at  stake  to 
expose  their  property  and  their  persons  to  the  perils 
of  any  further  experiments  in  that  direction,  even  for 
the  sake  of  expressing  their  sympathy  for  their  dear 
brethren  in  the  South,  or  of  saving  the  dear  Union 
into  the  bargain.  Another  method  more  in  accord 
with  the  genius  of  their  high  state  of  civilization,  they 
opined,  might  be  invented  to  put  the  agitation  and  the 
agitators  of  the  slavery  question  down.  The  politi 
cians  thereupon  proceeded  to  make  this  perfectly 
wonderful  invention.  Not  the  strong  arm  of  the  mob, 
quoth  these  wiseacres,  but  the  strong  arm  of  the  law 
it  shall  be.  And  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  they 
forthwith  determined  to  make  it. 

Massachusetts  was  hearkening  with  a  sort  of  fascin 
ation  to  the  song  of  the  slave  syren.    And  no  wonder. 


THE    BAROMETER    CONTINUES    TO    FALL.  243 

For  the  song  of  the  slave  syren  was  swelling  and 
clashing  the  while  with  passionate  and  imperious 
energy.  South  Carolina  had  led  off  in  this  kind  of 
music.  In  December  following  the  Boston  mob  Gov 
ernor  McDuffie,  pitched  the  key  of  the  Southern  con 
cert  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  descriptive  of 
anti-slavery  publications,  and  denunciatory  of  the 
anti-slavery  agitation.  The  Abolitionists  were,  to  his 
mind,  "  enemies  of  the  human  race,"  and  the  move 
ment  for  immediate  emancipation  ought  to  be  made 
a  felony  punishable  "by  death  without  benefit  of 
clergy."  He  boldly  denied  that  slavery  was  a  politi 
cal  evil,  and  vaunted  it  instead  as  "  the  corner  stone  of 
our  republican  edifice"  The  legislature  upon  the 
receipt  of  this  extraordinary  message  proceeded  to 
demand  of  the  free  States  the  suppression,  by  effective 
legislation,  of  anti-slavery  societies  and  their  incend 
iary  publications.  The  burden  of  this  demand  was 
directly  caught  up  by  North  Carolina,  Alabama,  Vir 
ginia,  and  Georgia.  But  there  were  some  things 
which  even  a  pro-slavery  North  could  not  do  to  oblige 
the  South.  Neither  party,  much  as  both  desired  it, 
dared  to  undertake  the  violation  by  law  of  the  great 
right  of  free  speech  and  of  the  freedom  of  the  press. 
Not  so,  however,  was  it  with  sundry  party  leaders, 
notably  the  governors  of  New  York  and  Massachu 
setts,  who  were  for  trying  the  strong  arm  of  the  law 
as  an  instrument  for  suppressing  Abolitionism. 
Edward  Everett  was  so  affected  by  the  increasing 
Southern  excitement  and  his  fears  for  the  safety  of 
the  dear  Union  that  he  must  needs  deliver  himself  in 
his  annual  message  upon  the  Abolition  agitation.  He 
was  of  the  opinion  that  the  Abolitionists  were  guilty 


244  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

of  an  offence  against  Massachusetts  which  might  be 
"  prosecuted  as  a  misdemeanor  at  common  law,"  He 
evidently  did  not  consider  that  in  the  then  present 
state  of  political  parties  and  of  public  opinion  any 
repressive  legislation  upon  the  subject  could  be  got 
through  the  legislature,  and  hence  the  immense  util 
ity  of  the  old  machinery  of  the  common  law,  as  an 
instrument  for  putting  down  the  agitation.  But  in 
order  to  get  this  machinery  into  operation,  careful 
preparation  was  necessary.  Proof  must  not  be  want 
ing  as  to  the  dangerous  and  unpatriotic  character  and 
tendency  of  the  movement  to  be  repressed.  There 
should  be  the  most  authoritative  utterance  upon  this 
point  to  warrant  the  effective  intervention  of  the 
Courts  and  Grand  Juries  of  the  commonwealth  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  Abolitionists,  as  disturbers  of  the 
peace.  Ergo  the  Governor's  deliverance  in  his  annual 
message  against  them.  Now,  if  the  legislature  could 
be  brought  to  deliver  itself  in  tones  not  less  certain, 
the  third  coordinate  branch  of  the  State  government 
might  catch  its  cue  and  act  with  energy  in  suppress 
ing  the  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the  commonwealth 
and  of  the  dear  Union  as  well.  This  was  the  scheme, 
the  conspiracy  which  was  in  a  state  of  incubation  in 
Massachusetts  in  the  year  1836.  The  pro-slavery  por 
tion  of  Governor  Everett's  message,  together  with  the 
Southern  demands  for  repressive  legislation  against 
the  Abolitionists  were  referred  to  a  joint  legislative 
committee  for  consideration  and  report.  The  chair 
man  of  the  committee  was  George  Lunt,  of  Newbury- 
port,  a  bitter  pro-slavery  politician,  who  saw  no  sign, 
received  no  light  which  did  not  come  out  of  the 
South. 


THE    BAROMETER   CONTINUES   TO    FALL.  245 

The  Abolitionists  perceived  the  gravity  of  the  new 
danger  which  threatened  them,  and  rallied  promptly 
to  avert  it.  They  shrewdly  guessed  that  the  object 
of  the  committee  would  not  be  the  enactment  of  any 
new  law  against  themselves  but  the  adoption  of  con 
demnatory  resolutions  instead.  This  course  they 
rightly  dreaded  more  than  the  other,  and  to  defeat  it 
the  managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti-slavery  Soci 
ety  requested  a  public  hearing  of  the  committee, 
v/hich  was  granted.  On  March  4th  Garrison  and 
many  of  the  anti-slavery  leaders  appeared  before  the 
committee,  with  a  carefully  planned  programme  of 
procedure.  To  each  of  the  selected  speakers  was 
assigned  a  distinct  phase  of  the  great  subject  of  dis 
cussion  before  the  committee.  Samuel  J.  May  was 
appointed  to  open  with  an  exposition  of  the  anti- 
slavery  movement  and  of  the  object  and  motives  of 
its  founders;  Garrison  to  follow  with  an  exhibition 
of  the  pacific  character  of  the  agitation  as  contained 
in  official  publications  whereby  forgiveness,  submis 
sion,  and  non-resistance  were  steadily  inculcated; 
Ellis  Gray  Loring  was  next  to  demonstrate  the  per 
fectly  constitutional  character  of  the  agitation.  The 
Abolitionists  had  in  no  wise  contravened  the  National 
or  the  State  Constitution,  either  in  letter  or  spirit,  and 
so  on  through  the  programme.  It  was  thus  that  the 
Abolitionists  dexterously  killed  two  birds  with  one 
stone;  for,  at  the  same  time  that  they  made  their 
defence  before  the  committeee,  they  managed  to  pre 
sent  their  cause  to  the  attention  of  the  public  as  well. 
Appearing  before  the  committee  to  prevent  hostile 
action  on  the  part  of  the  legislature  against  their 
movement,  they  skillfully  turned  the  occasion  into 


246  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  most  notable  meeting  for  agitating  the  subject  of 
slavery  in  the  State  during  the  year. 

The  pro-slavery  malignity  of  the  chairman  helped 
not  a  little  to  bring  this  result  to  pass.  He  again 
and  again  interrupted  the  speakers  with  the 
greatest  insolence  of  behavior.  Garrison,  for  a  won 
der,  was  allowed  to  finish  his  remarks  without  inter 
ruption.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  way  in  which 
Paul  addressed  himself  to  King  Agrippa's  master — 
public  opinion  : 

"  Sir,"  spoke  he  to  the  committee,  "  we  loudly  boast 
of  our  free  country,  and  of  the  union  of  these  States, 
yet  I  have  no  country  !  As  a  New  Englander  and  as 
an  Abolitionist  I  am  excluded  by  a  bloody  proscrip 
tion  from  one-half  of  the  national  territory,  and  so  is 
every  man  who  is  known  to  regard  slavery  with  ab 
horrence.  Where  is  our  Union  ?  .  The  right 
of  free  and  safe  locomotion  from  one  part  of  the  land 
to  the  other  is  denied  to  us,  except  on  peril  of  our 
lives.  .  .  .  Therefore  it  is,  I  assert,  that  the  Union 
is  now  virtually  dissolved.  .  .  .  Look  at  McDuf- 
fie's  sanguinary  message  !  Read  Calhoun's  Report 
to  the  U.  S.  Senate,  authorizing  every  postmaster  in 
the  South  to  plunder  the  mail  of  such  Northern  let 
ters  or  newspapers  as  he  may  choose  to  think  incendi 
ary  !  Sir,  the  alternative  presented  to  the  people  of 
New  England  is  this :  they  must  either  submit  to  be 
gagged  and  fettered  by  Southern  taskmasters,  or 
labor  unceasingly  for  the  removal  of  slavery  from 
our  country." 

This  was  a  capital  stroke,  a  bold  and  brilliant 
adaptation  of  the  history  of  the  times  to  the  advance 
ment  of  the  anti-slavery  movement  in  New  England. 


THE    BAROMETER   CONTINUES   TO    FALL.  247 

Missing  Garrison,  the  anger  of  the  chairman  fell  upon 
Goodell  and  Prof.  Follen,  like  a  tiger's  whelp.  Fol- 
len  was  remarking  upon  the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting, 
how  it  had  rendered  the  Abolitionists  odious  in  Bos 
ton,  and  how,  in  consequence,  the  mob  had  followed 
the  meeting. 

"  Now,  gentlemen,"  the  great  scholar  continued, 
"  may  we  most  reasonably  anticipate  that  similar 
consequences  would  follow  the  expression  by  the 
legislature  of  a  similar  condemnation  ?  Would  not 
the  mob  again  undertake  to  execute  the  informal 
sentence  of  the  General  Court  ?  Would  it  not  let 
loose  again  its  bloodhounds  upon  us  ?" 

At  this  point  Mr.  Lunt  peremptorily  stopped  the 
speaker,  exclaiming  : 

"  Stop,  sir  !  You  may  not  pursue  this  course  of 
remark.  It  is  insulting  to  this  committee  and  the 
legislature  which  they  represent." 

The  Abolitionists,  after  this  insult,  determined  to 
withdraw  from  the  hearing,  and  appeal  to  the  legis 
lature  to  be  heard,  not  as  a  favor  but  of  right.  A 
new  hearing  was,  therefore,  ordered,  and  the  reform 
ers  appeared  a  second  time  before  the  committee. 
But  the  scenes  of  the  first  were  repeated  at  the  second 
hearing.  The  chairman  was  intolerably  insolent  to 
the  speakers.  His  violent  behavior  to  William  Good- 
ell,  who  was  paying  his  respects  to  the  Southern 
documents  lying  on  the  table  of  the  committee,  ter 
minated  the  second  hearing.  These  documents  Mr. 
Goodell  described  as  fetters  for  Northern  freemen, 
and  boldly  interrogated  the  chairman  in  respect  of 
them  thus  : 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  are  you  prepared  to  attempt  putting 


248  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

them  on  ?  "  But  the  chairman  was  in  no  mood  to 
listen  to  the  question.  His  insolence  reached  a  cli 
max  as  he  exclaimed  passionately  to  Mr.  Goodell, 
"  Stop,  sir  !  Sit  down,  sir  !  The  committee  will  hear 
no  more  of  this."  But  the  temper  of  the  Abolitionists 
had  risen  also,  as  had  also  risen  the  temper  of  the  great 
audience  of  citizens  who  were  present  at  the  hearing 
which  was  had  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives.  "  Freemen  we  came,"  retorted  Goodell,  "  and 
as  freemen  we  shall  go  away."  Scarcely  had  these 
words  died  upon  the  ears  when  there  rose  sharply 
from  the  auditory,  the  stern  protest  "  Let  us  go 
quickly,  lest  we  be  made  slaves." 

The  attempt  to  suppress  the  Abolitionists  was  a 
failure.  It  but  stimulated  the  agitation  and  deepened 
the  popular  interest  in  the  subject.  Strong  allies 
within  and  without  the  legislature  were  enlisted  on 
the  side  of  freedom.  The  turning  of  the  tide  of  pub 
lic  sentiment  in  the  grand  old  State  had  come.  Slowly 
did  it  rise  for  awhile,  but  from  that  event  it  never 
ceased  to  flow  in  and  with  increasing  volume.  The 
condemnatory  report  of  the  insolent  chairman  proved 
as  innocuous  as  the  baying  of  dogs  at  the  moon.  The 
legislature  refused  to  indorse  it  and  the  pro-slavery 
resolutions  attached  to  it.  They  were  both  ignomin- 
iously  laid  upon  the  table,  and  what  is  more  to  the 
purpose  as  a  straw  to  show  the  drift  of  popular 
opinion  on  the  slaver)'  question  in  Massachusetts, 
their  author  failed  of  a  renomination  as  Senator  at  the 
hands  of  hit  dissatisfied  constituents. 

The  conflic  was  raging  not  alone  in  Massachu 
setts  but  all  through  the  free  States.  In  Congress 
the  battle  was  assuming  an  intensely  bitter  character. 


THE    BAROMETER   CONTINUES   TO    FALL.  249 

Here  the  South  was  the  agitator.  Here  she  kept  the 
political  waters  in  a  state  of  violent  ebullition.  As 
the  discord  grew,  sectionalism  threw  darkening  and 
portentous  shadows  over  the  face  of  the  Union. 
The  South  was  insisting  in  all  stages  of  passion  that 
the  tide  of  Abolition  be  checked  in  the  North,  that 
the  flood  of  incendiary  publications  be  suppressed  at 
their  sources  in  the  free  States.  The  Southern  slave- 
holding  President  had  suggested  the  suppression  of 
these  by  Congress.  He  would  "  prohibit,  under 
severe  penalties,  the  circulation  in  the  Southern 
States,  through  the  mail,  of  incendiary  publications 
intended  to  instigate  the  slaves  to  insurrection."  But 
when  Webster  and  a  few  Northern  leaders  objected 
to  such  a  proceeding  as  unconstitutional  and  in 
derogation  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  the  South 
treated  the  objection  as  inimical  to  Southern  interest 
and  security.  Thereupon  the  Southern  excitement 
increased  all  the  faster.  The  slave-power  was  not 
disposed  to  accept  anything  short  of  complete  sub 
mission  on  the  part  of  the  North.  And  this  the 
North  could  not  well  yield.  While  the  slave-holding 
States  were  clamoring  for  the  suppression  of  Aboli 
tionism  in  the  free  States,  Abolitionism  was  giving 
evidences  of  extraordinary  expansion,  and  activity. 
It  had  risen  well  above  the  zero  point  in  politics.  It 
was  gaining  numbers  and  it  was  gaining  votes.  A 
new  element  had  appeared  at  the  polls  and  both  of 
the  old  parties  began  to  exhibit  a  certain  degree  of 
impressibility  to  the  latest  attraction.  The  slave- 
power  with  quick  instinct  recognized  in  the  new 
comer  a  dangerous  rival,  and  schemed  for  its  destruc 
tion.  Southern  jealousy  took  on  the  character  of 


250  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

insanity.  Neither  Northern  Whigs  nor  Northern 
Democrats  were  permitted  to  show  any  regard  for 
the  rival.  They  were  to  snub  and  utterly  abolish 
her,  otherwise  they  should  be  snubbed  and  utterly 
abolished  by  the  slave-power.  They  could  not  with 
impunity  give  to  Abolitionism  the  scantiest  attention 
or  courtesy.  Not  even  a  gallant  like  John  Quincy 
Adams,  who  was  able  to  see  nothing  attractive  in  the 
little  band  of  reformers.  They  seemed  to  him,  in 
fact,  "  a  small,  shallow,  and  enthusiastic  party  preach 
ing  the  abolition  of  slavery  upon  the  principles  of 
extreme  democracy."  If  Mr.  Adams  had  little  love 
for  the  South,  he  had  none  whatever  for  the  Aboli 
tionists.  By  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  could  he 
have  been  suspected  of  any  sentimental  attachment 
to  the  Abolition  movement.  For  his  unvarying  atti 
tude  towards  it  was  one  of  grim  contempt.  But  if 
the  old  Roman  had  no  love  for  the  Abolitionists,  he 
did  have  a  deep-seated  attachment  and  reverence  for 
certain  ancient  rights  appertaining  to  free  institu 
tions,  which  nothing  was  able  to  shake.  Among 
these  was  the  great  right  of  petition,  viewed  by  the 
ex-President  as  a  right  of  human  nature.  For  a 
dozen  years  he  stood  in  Congress  its  sleepless  senti 
nel.  And  herein  did  he  perform  for  freedom  most 
valiant  service.  It  made  no  difference  to  the  daunt 
less  old  man  whether  he  approved  of  the  prayer  of  a 
petition  or  not,  if  it  was  sent  to  him  he  presented  it 
to  the  House  all  the  same.  He  presented  petitions 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  and  one,  at  least,  against  it,  petitions  from  black 
and  white,  bond  and  free,  with  superb  fidelity  to  the 
precious  right  which  he  championed. 


THE    BAROMETER    CONTINUES    TO    FALL.  25! 

This  characteristic  of  the  aged  statesman  kept  the 
Southern  members^in  a  state  of  chronic  apprehension 
and  excitement.  They  bullied  him,  they  raged  like 
so  many  wild  animals  against  him,  they  attempted  to 
crush  him  with  votes  of  censure  and  expulsion  all  to 
no  purpose.  Then  they  applied  the  gag  :  "  That  all 
petitions,  memorials,  and  papers  touching  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery,  or  the  buying,  selling,  or  transferring 
slaves,  in  any  State,  or  district,  or  territory  of  the 
United  States,  be  laid  on  the  table  without  being 
debated,  printed,  read,  or  referred,  and  that  no  action 
be  taken  thereon."  Mr.  Adam's  denunciation  of  this 
action  as  a  violation  of  the  Constitution,  of  the  right 
of  the  people  to  petition,  and  of  the  right  to  freedom 
of  speech  in  Congress,  found  wide  echo  through  the 
North.  The  violence,  intolerence.  and  tyranny  of  the 
South  were  disgusting  many  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  influential  minds  in  the  non-slave-holding  States, 
and  driving  them  into  more  or  less  close  affiliation 
with  the  anti-slavery  movement. 

And  so  it  was  wherever  one  turned  there  were  con 
flict  and  uproar.  Everywhere  contrary  ideas,  inter 
ests,  institutions,  tendencies,  were  colliding  with 
inextinguishable  rage.  All  the  opposites  and  irrecon- 
cilables  in  a  people's  life  had  risen  and  clashed 
together  in  a  death  struggle  for  mastery.  Freedom 
and  slavery,  civilization  and  barbarism  had  found  an 
Armageddon  in  the  moral  consciousness  of  the 
Republic.  Now  the  combatants  rallied  and  the  bat 
tle  thickened  at  one  point,  now  around  another.  At 
Washington  the  tide  rolls  in  with  resounding  fury 
about  the  right  of  petition  and  the  freedom  of  debate, 
then  through  the  free  States  it  surges  and  beats 


252  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

around  the  right  of  free  speech  and  the  freedom  of 
the  press.  Storm  clouds  are  flying  from  the  East  and 
from  the  West,  flying  out  of  the  North  and  out  of  the 
South.  Everywhere  the  chaos  of  the  winds  has 
burst,  and  the  anarchy  of  the  "  live  thunder." 

Benton  with  his  customary  optimism  from  a  South 
ern  standpoint,  rejoiced  in  the  year  1836  that  the 
people  of  the  Northern  States  had  "  chased  off  the 
foreign  emissaries,  silenced  the  gabbling  tongues  of 
female  dupes,  and  dispersed  the  assemblies,  whether 
fanatical,  visionary,  or  incendiary,  of  all  that  congre 
gated  to  preach  against  evils  that  afflicted  others,  not 
them,  and  to  propose  remedies  to  aggravate  the  dis 
ease  which  they  pretended  to  cure."  Calhoun's  pes 
simism  was  clearer  eyed.  The  great  nullifier  per 
ceived  at  once  the  insuppressible  nature  of  the  Aboli 
tion  movement  and  early  predicted  that  the  spirit 
then  abroad  in  the  North  would  not  "  die  away  of 
itself  without  a  shock  or  convulsion."  Yes,  it  was  as 
he  had  prophesied,  the  anti-slavery  reform  was,  at 
the  very  moment  of  Benton's  groundless  jubilation, 
rising  and  spreading  with  astonishing  progress 
through  the  free  States.  It  was  gaining  footholds  in 
the  pulpit,  the  school,  and  the  press.  It  was  a  stal 
wart  sower,  scattering  broadcast  as  he  walked  over 
the  fields  of  the  then  coming  generation  truths  and 
antipathies  of  social  principles,  which  were  to  make 
peace  impossible  between  the  slave-holding  and  the 
non-slave-holding  halves  of  the  Union. 

In  the  year  1836  the  anti-slavery  leaven  or  residuum 
for  instance,  was  sufficiently  potent  to  preserve  the 
statutes  of  the  free  States,  free  from  repressive  laws 
directed  against  the  Abolitionists.  This  was  much 


THE    BAROMETER    CONTINUES    TO    FALL.  253 

but  there  was  undoubtedly  another  phase  of  the  agi 
tation,  a  phase  which  struck  the  shallow  eye  of  Ben- 
ton,  and  led  him  into  false  conclusions.  It  was  not 
clear  sailing  for  the  reform.  It  was  truly  a  period  of 
stress  and  storm.  Sometimes  the  reform  was  in  a 
trough  of  the  sea  of  public  opinion,  sometimes  on  the 
crest  of  a  billow,  and  then  again  on  the  bosom  of  a 
giant  ground  swell.  In  Boston  in  this  selfsame  year 
which  witnessed  Benton's  exultation  over  the  fall  of 
Abolitionism,  the  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society 
was  not  able  to  obtain  the  use  of  hall  or  church  for 
its  annual  meeting,  and  was  in  consequence  forced 
into  insufficient  accommodations  at  its  rooms  on 
Washington  street.  The  succeeding  year  the  society 
was  obliged,  from  inability  to  obtain  the  use  of  either 
hall  or  church  in  the  city,  to  occupy  for  its  annual 
meeting  the  loft  over  the  stable  connected  with  the 
Marlborough  Hotel.  It  is  a  long  way  from  this  rude 
meeting-house  to  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Represent 
atives,  but  in  this  storm  and  stress  period  the  distance 
was  traversed  in  a  few  brief  hours.  The  society 
applied  in  its  exigency  for  the  use  of  the  hall  for  an 
evening  meeting,  and  the  application  was  granted  by 
the  members.  It  was  a  jeu  d* esprit  of  Henry  B.  Stan- 
ton,  "  That  when  Boston  votes  we  go  into  a  stable, 
but  when  the  State  votes  we  go  into  the  State  House." 
It  was  even  so,  for  the  incident  served  to  reveal  what 
was  true  everywhere  through  the  free  States  that  the 
anti-slavery  reform  was  making  fastest  progress 
among  people  away  from  the  great  centres  of  popu 
lation.  It  found  ready  access  to  the  simple  Ameri 
can  folk  in  villages,  in  the  smaller  towns,  and  in  the 
rural  districts  of  New  England  and  the  North,  And 


254  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

already  from  these  independent  and  uncorrupted 
sons  and  daughters  of  freedom  had  started  the  deep 
ground  swell  which  was  to  lift  the  level  of  Northern 
public  opinion  on  the  question  of  slavery. 

This  Walpurgis  period  of  the  movement  culminated 
on  November  7,  1837,  in  a  terrible  tragedy.  The 
place  was  a  little  Illinois  town,  Alton,  just  over  the 
Mississippi  River  from  St.  Louis,  and  the  victim  was 
Elijah  P.  Lovejoy.  He  was  a  minister  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church,  and  the  editor  of  a  weekly  religious 
newspaper,  first  published  in  St.  Louis  and  removed 
by  him  later  to  Alton.  His  sin  was  that  he  did  not 
hold  his  peace  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  col 
umns  of  his  paper.  He  was  warned  "  to  pass  over  in 
silence  everything  connected "  with  that  question. 
But  he  had  no  choice,  he  had  to  cry  aloud  against 
iniquities,  which,  as  a  Christian  minister  and  a  Chris 
tian  editor,  he  dared  not  ignore.  His  troubles  with 
the  people  of  St.  Louis  took  in  the  spring  of  1836 
a  sanguinary  turn,  when  he  denounced  the  lynching 
of  a  negro  by  a  St.  Louis  mob,  perpetrated  under  cir 
cumstances  of  peculiar  atrocity.  In  consequence 
of  his  outspoken  condemnation  of  the  horror,  his 
office  was  broken  into  and  destroyed  by  a  mob. 
Lovejoy  thereupon  removed  his  paper  to  Alton,  but 
the  wild-cat-like  spirit  pursued  him  across  the  river 
and  destroyed  his  press.  He  replaced  his  broken 
press  with  a  new  one,  only  to  have  his  property  a 
second  time  destroyed.  He  replaced  the  second  with 
a  third  press,  but  a  third  time  the  mob  destroyed  his 
property.  Then  he  bought  a  fourth  press,  and 
resolved  to  defend  it  with  his  life.  Pierced  by  bullets 
he  fell,  resisting  the  attack  of  a  mob  bent  on  the  de- 


THE    BAROMETER   CONTINUES    TO    FALL.  255 

struction  of  his  rights.  Lovejoy  died  a  martyr  to  free 
speech  and  the  freedom  of  the  press. 

The  tidings  of  this  tragedy  stirred  the  free  States 
to  unwonted  depths.  The  murder  of  an  able  and  sin 
gularly  noble  man  by  a  mob  was  indeed  horrible 
enough,  but  the  blow  which  took  his  life  was  aimed 
at  the  right  of  free  speech  and  the  freedom  of  the 
press.  He  was  struck  down  in  the  exercise  of  his  lib 
erties  as  a  citizen  of  the  town  where  he  met  death, 
and  of  the  State  and  country  to  which  he  belonged. 
What  brave  man  and  good  in  the  North  who  might 
not  meet  a  similar  fate  for  daring  to  denounce  evils 
approved  by  the  community  in  which  his  lot  was 
cast  ?  Who  was  safe  ?  Whose  turn  would  it  be  next 
to  pay  with  his  life  for  attempts  to  vindicate  the 
birthright  of  his  citizenship?  What  had  Lovejoy 
done,  what  had  he  written,  that  thousands  of  people 
who  did  not  agree  with  Garrison  would  not  have 
done  and  have  written  under  like  circumstances  ?  He 
was  not  a  disciple  of  Garrison,  he  did  not  accept  the 
doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation,  and  yet  a  pro- 
slavery  mob  had  murdered  him.  Yes,  who  was 
safe  ?  Who  was  to  be  the  next  ?  A  great  horror 
transfixed  the  North,  and  bitter  uncertainty,  and 
tremendous  dread  of  approaching  perils  to  its 
liberties. 

Ah  !  had  not  Garrison  spoken  much  plain  truth  at 
the  public  hearing  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery 
Society  before  the  insolent  chairman  and  his  commit 
tee  when  he  said:  "  The  liberties  of  the  people  of  the 
free  States  are  identified  with  those  of  the  slave  pop 
ulation.  If  it  were  not  so,  there  would  be  no  hope,  in 
my  breast,  of  peaceful  deliverance  of  the  latter  class 


256  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

from  their  bondage.  Our  liberties  are  bound  together 
by  a  ligament  as  vital  as  that  which  unites  the  Siam 
ese  twins.  The  blow  which  cuts  them  asunder,  will 
inevitably  destroy  them  both.  Let  the  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  be  abridged  or  destroyed,  and 
the  nation  itself  will  be  in  bondage  ;  let  it  remain 
untrammeled,  and  Southern  slavery  must  speedily 
come  to  an  end."  The  tragedy  at  Alton  afforded 
startling  illustration  of  the  soundness  of  this  remark. 
Classes  like  individuals  gain  wisdom  only  by  experi 
ence  ;  and  the  murder  of  Lovejoy  was  one  of  those 
terrific  experiences  which  furrow  themselves  in  the 
soul  of  a  people  in  frightful  memories  and  apprehen 
sions  which  do  not  disappear  but  remain  after  long 
lapse  of  years. 

Twelve  days  after  the  murder — it  was  before  the 
development  of  the  telegraph  and  rapid  postal  facili 
ties — the  news  reached  Boston.  It  produced  the  most 
profound  sensation.  Many  of  the  leading  citizens 
felt  straightway  that  if  the  rights  assailed  in  the  per 
son  of  Lovejoy  were  to  be  preserved  to  themselves 
and  their  section,  immediate  action  was  required.  A 
great  meeting  was  proposed,  and  Faneuil  Hall 
applied  for.  The  application  was  denied  by  the 
municipal  authorities  on  the  plea  that  its  use  for  such 
a  purpose  might  provoke  a  mob.  The  city  was,  how 
ever,  dealing  now  not  with  the  despised  Abolitionists, 
but  with  men  of  property  and  standing  in  the  com 
munity  and  was  soon  brought  to  its  senses  by  the 
indignant  eloquence  of  Dr.  Channing,  appealing  to 
the  better  self  of  Boston  in  this  strain  :  "  Has  it  come 
to  this  ?  Has  Boston  fallen  so  low  ?  May  not  its  cit 
izens  be  trusted  to  come  together  to  express  the  great 


THE    BAROMETER   CONTINUES    TO    FALL.  257 

principles  of  liberty  for  which  their  forefathers  died  ? 
Are  our  fellow-citizens  to  be  murdered  in  the  act  of 
defending  their  property  and  of  assuming  the  right 
of  free  discussion  ?  And  is  it  unsafe  in  this  metrop 
olis  to  express  abhorrence  of  the  deed  ?  " 

A  second  application  for  the  hall  was  granted,  and 
a  meeting,  which  is  an  historical  event  in  the  annals 
of  the  old  town,  was  held  December  8,  1837 — a  meet 
ing  memorable  as  an  uprising,  not  of  the  Abolition 
ists,  but  of  the  conservatism  and  respectability  of  the 
city  in  behalf  of  the  outraged  liberties  of  white  men. 
Ever  memorable,too,  for  that  marvelous  speech  of  Wen 
dell  Phillips,  which  placed  him  instantly  in  the  front 
rank  of  minds  with  a  genius  for  eloquence,  lifted  him  , 
at  once  as  an  anti-slavery  instrument  and  leader  close  1 
beside  William  Lloyd  Garrison.  The  wild-cat-like 
spirit  which  had  hunted  Thompson  out  of  the  coun 
try  and  Lovejoy  to  death,  had  more  than  made' 
^ood  the  immense  deficit  of  services  thus  created 
through  the  introduction  upon  the  national  stage  of 
the  reform  of  this  consummate  and  incomparable 
orator. 

The   assassination    of   Lovejoy    was   an    imposing 
object   lesson   to   the   North,  but  it  was  not  the  last. 
Other  and   terrible    illustrations  of   the   triumph  of4] 
mobs  followed  it,  notably  the  burning  of  Pennsylva-  I 
nia   Hall  in  Philadelphia  i>n  the  evening  of  May  17,  I 
1838.     As  the  murder  of  Lovejoy  formed  the  culmi 
nation  of  outrages  directed  against  the  rights  of  per 
son,  the  burning  of  Pennsylvania  Hall  furnished  the   \ 
climax  of  outrages   committed  against  the  rights  of 
property.     The  friends  of  the  slave  and  of  free  dis 
cussion  in  Philadelphia  feeling  the  netrd  of  a  place 


258  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

where  they  might  assemble  for  the  exercise  of  the 
right  of  free  speech  in  a  city  which  denied  to  them 
the  use  of  its  halls  and  meeting-houses,  determined 
to  erect  for  themselves  such  a  place.  At  a  cost  oi 
forty  thousand  dollars  they  built  Pennsylvania  Hall 
and  devoted  it  to  "  Free  Discussion,  Virtue,  Liberty, 
and  Independence." 

Two  days  after  the  dedicatory  exercises  were  had 
the  hall  was  occupied  by  the  annual  convention  of 
American  Anti-Slavery  Women.  On  the  evening  of 
May  i6th,  Garrison,  Maria  Weston  Chapman,  Ange 
lina  Grimk6  Weld  and  others  addressed  the  conven 
tion  in  the  new  temple  of  freedom.  The  scenes  of 
that  evening  have  been  graphically  described  by  the 
first  speaker  as  follows  :  "  The  floor  of  the  hall  was 
densely  crowded  with  women,  some  of  the  noblest 
specimens  of  our  race,  a  large  proportion  of  whom 
were  Quakers.  The  side  aisles  and  spacious  galleries 
were  as  thickly  filled  with  men.  Nearly  three  thou 
sand  people  were  in  the  hall.  There  seemed  to  be 
no  visible  symptoms  of  a  riot.  When  I  rose  to  speak 
I  was  greeted  with  applause  by  the  immense  assem 
bly,  and  also  several  times  in  the  course  of  my 
remarks.  As  soon,  however,  as  I  had  concluded  my 
address,  a  furious  mob  broke  into  the  hall,  yelling 
and  shouting  as  if  the  very  fiends  of  the  pit  had  sud 
denly  broken  loose.  The  audience  rose  in  some  con 
fusion,  and  would  undoubtedly  have  been  broken  up, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  admirable  self-possession  of 
some  individuals,  particularly  the  women.  The 
mobocrats  finding  that  they  could  not  succeed  in 
their  purpose,  retreated  into  the  streets,  and,  sur 
rounding  the  building,  began  to  dash  in  the  windows 


THE    BAROMETER    CONTINUES   TO    FALL.  259 

with  stones  and  brick-bats.  It  was  under  these 
appalling  circumstances  that  Mrs.  Chapman  rose  for 
the  first  time  in  her  life,  to  address  a  promiscuous 
assembly  of  men  and  women — and  she  acquitted  her 
self  nobly.  She  spoke  about  ten  minutes,  and  was 
succeeded  by  A.  E.  G.  Weld,  who  occupied  nearly 
an  hour.  As  the  tumult  from  without  increased,  and 
the  brick-bats  fell  thick  and  fast  (no  one,  however, 
being  injured)  her  eloquence  kindled,  her  eye  flashed, 
and  her  cheeks  glowed,  as  she  devoutly  thanked  the 
Lord  that  the  stupid  repose  of  that  city  had  at  length 
been  disturbed  by  the  force  of  truth.  When  she  sat 
down,  Esther  Moore  (a  Friend)  made  a  few  remarks, 
then  Lucretia  Mott,  and  finally  Abby  Kelley,  a  noble  , 
young  woman  from  Lynn. 

"  The  meeting  broke  up  about  10  o'clock,  and  we 
all  got  safely  home.  The  next  day  the  street  was 
thronged  with  profane  ruffians  and  curious  specta 
tors — the  women,  however,  holding  their  meetings  in  j 
the  hall  all  day,  till  towards  evening.  It  was  given  ) 
out  by  the  mob  that  the  hall  would  be  burnt  to  the 
ground  that  night.  We  were  to  have  a  meeting  in 
the  evening,  but  it  was  impossible  to  execute  our 
purpose.  The  mayor  induced  the  manager  to  give 
the  keys  of  the  building  into  his  hands.  He  then 
locked  the  doors,  and  made  a  brief  speech  to  the  mob, 
assuring  them  that  he  had  the  keys,  and  that  there 
would  be  no  meeting,  and  requesting  them  to  retire. 
He  then  went  home,  but  the  mob  were  bent  on  the 
destruction  of  the  hall.  They  had  now  increased  to 
several  thousands,  and  soon  got  Into  the  hall  by 
dashing  open  the  doors  with  their  axes.  They  then 
set  fire  to  this  huge  building,  and  in  the  course  of  an 


260  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

hour  it  was  a  solid  mass  of  flame.  The  bells  of  the 
city  were  rung,  and  several  engines  rallied  ;  but  no 
water  was  permitted  to  be  thrown  upon  the  building. 
The  light  of  the  fire  must  have  been  seen  a  great 
distance." 

At  midnight  Garrison  was  spirited  out  of  the  city, 
and  conveyed  in  a  covered  carriage  by  a  friend  to 
Bristol,  about  twenty  miles,  where  in  the  morning  he 
took  the  steamboat  for  Boston.  The  light  of  that 
fire  was  visible  a  great  distance  in  more  senses  than 
one.  The  burning  of  Pennsylvania  Hall  proved  a 
public  enlightener.  After  that  occurrence  the  gen 
tlemen  of  property  scattered  through  the  free  States 
devoted  themselves  less  to  the  violent  suppression  of 
Abolitionism  and  more  to  the  forcible  suppression, 
upon  occasion,  of  the  alarming  manifestations 
of  popular  lawlessness,  which  found  significant 
demonstration  just  a  week  later  in  the  city  of 
Boston. 

Mr.  Garrison  has  preserved  for  us  an  instructive 
account  of  this  affair,  too,  and  here  is  the  story  as  told 
by  him  to  his  brother-in-law,  George  W.  Benson,  in  a 
letter  dated  May  25th  :  "  The  spirit  of  mobocracy, 
like  the  pestilence,  is  contagious  ;  and  Boston  is  once 
more  ready  to  reenact  the  riotous  scenes  of  1835. 
The  Marlboro'  Chapel,  having  just  been  completed, 
and  standing  in  relation  to  our  cause  just  as  did 
Pennsylvania  Hall,  is  an  object  of  pro-slavery  malevo 
lence.  Ever  since  my  return,  threats  have  been  given 
out  that  the  chapel  should  share  the  fate  of  the  hall. 
Last  evening  was  the  time  for  its  dedication  ;  and, 
so  threatening  was  the  aspect  of  things,  four  com 
panies  of  light  infantry  were  ordered  to  be  in  readi- 


THE    BAROMETER   CONTINUES   TO   FALL.  261 

ness,  each  being  provided  with  100  ball  cartridges,  to 
rush  to  the  scene  of  riot  on  the  tolling  of  the  bells. 
The  Lancers,  a  powerful  body  of  horsemen,  were 
also  in  readiness.  During  the  day  placards  were 
posted  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  denouncing  the 
Abolitionists,  and  calling  upon  the  citizens  to  rally  at 
the  chapel  in  the  evening,  in  order  to  put  them  down. 
An  immense  concourse  of  people  assembled,  a  large 
proportion  doubtless  from  motives  of  curiosity,  and 
not  a  few  of  them  with  evil  designs  ;  but  owing  to 
the  strong  military  preparations,  the  multitude 
refrained  entirely  from  any  overt  acts  of  violence. 
They  did  not  disperse  till  after  10  o'clock,  and  dur 
ing  the  evening  shouted  and  yelled  like  a  troop  of 
wild  savages.  Some  ten  or  twelve  were  seized  and 
carried  to  the  watch-house,  and  this  morning  fined 
for  their  disorderly  conduct." 

The  frightful  excesses  of  the  Walpurgis  period  of 
the  agitation  reacted  through  the  free  States  to  an 
extraordinary  extent  in  favor  of  Abolition.  The 
greater  the  horror  committed  by  the  wild-cat-like 
spirit,  the  greater  the  help  which  the  reform  derived 
therefrom.  The  destruction  of  property,  and  the 
destruction  of  life  instead  of  putting  down  the  hated 
Abolitionists  aroused  in  the  public  mind  apprehen 
sions  and  antagonisms  in  respect  of  mobs,  which 
proved,  immediately  and  ultimately,  of  immense  ad 
vantage  to  freedom.  This  revulsion  on  the  part  of 
the  North  from  lawless  attempts  to  abolish  Aboli 
tionism,  affected  almost  unavoidably,  and  in  the  be 
ginning  of  it  almost  unconsciously,  the  friendly  dis 
positions  of  that  section  toward  slavery,  the  root 
and  mainspring  of  these  attempts.  Blows  aimed  at 


262  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  agent  were  sure,  regardless  of  the  actor's  inten 
tion,  to  glance  and  strike  the  principal.  In  spite  of 
mobs  then,  and  to  a  remarkable  degree  because  of 
mobs,  Abolitionism  had  become  a  powerful  motor 
in  revolutionizing  public  opinion  in  the  free  States 
on  the  subject  of  slavery. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

BROTHERLY  LOVE  FAILS,  AND  IDEAS  ABOUND. 

During  those  strenuous,  unresting  years,  included 
between  1829  and  1836,  Garrison  had  leaned  on  his 
health  as  upon  a  strong  staff.  It  sustained  him  with 
out  a  break  through  that  period,  great  as  was  the 
strain  to  which  it  was  subjected.  But  early  in  the 
latter  year  the  prop  gave  way,  and  the  pioneer  was 
prostrated  by  a  severe  fit  of  sickness.  It  lasted  off 
and  on  for  quite  two  years.  His  activity  the  first 
year  was  seriously  crippled,  though  at  no  time,  ow 
ing  to  his  indomitable  will,  could  he  be  said  to  have 
been  rendered  completely  hors  de  combat.  Almost  the 
whole  of  1836  he  spent  with  his  wife's  family  in 
Brooklyn,  where  his  first  child  was  born.  This  new 
mouth  brought  with  it  fresh  cares  of  a  domestic  char 
acter.  He  experienced  losses  also.  Death  removed 
his  aged  father-in-law  in  the  last  month  of  1836,  and 
four  weeks  later  Henry  E.  Benson,  his  brother-in-law. 
Their  taking  off  was  a  sad  blow  to  the  reformer  and 
to  the  reform.  That  of  the  younger  man  cast  a 
gloom  over  anti-slavery  circles  in  New  England  ;  for 
at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  the  secretary  and 
general  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Society,  and  al 
though  not  twenty-three,  had  displayed  uncommon 
capacity  for  affairs.  The  business  ability  which  he 
brought  into  his  office  was  of  the  greatest  value 


264  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

where  there  was  such  a  distinct  deficiency  in  that  re 
spect  among  his  coadjutors,  and  the  loss  of  it  seemed 
irreparable. 

Afflicted  as  he  was,  the  leader  was  nevertheless 
cheered  by  the  extraordinary  progress  of  the  move 
ment  started  by  him.  The  growth  and  activity  of 
Abolitionism  were  indeed  altogether  phenomenal.  In 
February,  1837,  Ellis  Gray  Loring  estimated  that 
there  were  then  eight  hundred  anti-slavery  societies 
in  the  United  States,  that  an  anti-slavery  society  had 
been  formed  in  the  North  every  day  for  the  last  two 
years,  and  that  in  the  single  State  of  Ohio  there  were 
three  hundred  societies,  one  of  which  had  a  member 
ship  of  four  thousand  names.  The  moral  agitation 
was  at  its  height.  The  National  Society  had  hit  upon 
a  capital  device  for  increasing  the  effectiveness  of 
its  agents  and  lecturers.  This  was  to  bring  them 
together  in  New  York  for  a  few  weeks'  study  of  the 
slavery  question  under  the  direction  of  such  masters 
as  Theodore  D.  Weld,  Beriah  Green,  Charles  Stuart, 
and  others.  All  possible  phases  of  the  great  subject, 
such  as,  What  is  slavery  ?  What  is  immediate  eman 
cipation  ?  The  consequences  of  emancipation  to  the 
South,  etc.,  etc.,  pro-slavery  objections  and  argu 
ments  were  stated  and  answered.  The  agents  and 
lecturers  went  forth  from  the  convention  bristling 
with  facts,  and  glowing  with  enthusiasm  to  renew  the 
crusade  against  slavery.  Garrison,  broken  in  health 
as  he  was,  went  on  from  Boston  to  attend  this  school 
of  his  disciples.  He  spoke  briefly  but  repeatedly  to 
them  upon  the  all-absorbing  topic  which  had  brought 
them  together.  "  It  was  a  happy  circumstance,  too," 
he  wrote,  "  that  I  was  present  with  them,  and  that 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  265 

they  had  an  opportunity  to  become  personally 
acquainted  with  me  ;  for,  as  I  am  a  great  stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  the  people,  or,  rather,  of  some 
people,  it  would  be  somewhat  disastrous  to  our  cause 
if  any  of  our  agents,  through  the  influence  of  popular 
sentiment,  should  be  led  to  cherish  prejudices 
against  me." 

In  February,  1837,  the  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery 
Society  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  Liberator  from  its 
financial  embarrassments  and  hand-to-mouth  exist 
ence  by  assuming  the  responsibility  of  its  publica 
tion.  The  arrangement  did  not  in  any  respect 
compromise  Mr.  Garrison's  editorial  independence, 
but  lifted  from  him  and  his  friend  Knapp  in  his  own 
language,  "  a  heavy  burden,  which  has  long  crushed 
us  to  the  earth."  The  arrangement,  nevertheless, 
continued  but  a  year  when  it  was  voluntarily  set 
aside  by  Mr.  Garrison  for  causes  of  which  we  must 
now  give  an  account. 

In  the  letter  from  which  we  have  quoted  above, 
touching  his  visit  to  the  Convention  of  Anti-Slavery 
Agents,  Garrison  alludes  to  one  of  these  causes.  He 
says  :  "  I  was  most  kindly  received  by  all,  and  treated 
as  a  brother,  notwithstanding  the  wide  difference  of 
opinion  between  us  on  some  religious  points,  especi 
ally  the  Sabbath  question."  The  italics  are  our  own. 
Until  within  a  few  years  he  had  been  one  of  the 
strictest  of  Sabbath  observers.  Although  never  for 
mally  connected  with  any  church,  he  had  been  a 
narrow  and  even  an  intolerant  believer  in  the  creed 
and  observances  of  New  England  orthodoxy.  Words 
failed  him  in  1828  to  express  his  abhorrence  of  a 
meeting  of  professed  infidels  :  "  It  is  impossible,"  he 


266  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

exclaimed  with  the  ardor  of  a  bigot,  "  to  estimate  the 
depravity  and  wickedness  of  those  who,  at  the 
present  day,  reject  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,'7  etc. 
A  year  and  a  half  later  while  editing  the  Genius  in 
Baltimore,  he  held  uncompromisingly  to  the  stern 
Sabbatical  notions  of  the  Puritans.  A  fete  given  to 
,  Lafayette  in  France  on  Sunday  seemed  to  him  an 
!  act  of  sheer  religious  desecration.  The  carrying  of 
passengers  and  the  mails  on  the  Sabbath  provoked 
his  energetic  reprobation.  He  was  in  all  points  of 
New  England  Puritanism,  orthodox  of  the  orthodox. 
Subsequently  he  began  to  see  things  in  a  different 
light.  As  the  area  of  his  experience  extended  it 
came  to  him  that  living  was  more  than  believing, 
that  it  was  not  every  one  who  professed  faith  in 
Jesus  had  love  for  him  in  the  heart ;  and  that  there 
were  many  whom  his  own  illiberalism  had  rated  as 
depraved  and  wicked  on  mere  points  of  doctrine, 
who,  nevertheless,  shamed  by  the  blamelessness  and 
nobility  of  their  conduct  multitudes  of  ardent  Chris 
tians  of  the  lip-service  sort.  Indeed  this  contradic 
tion  between  creed  and  conduct  struck  him  with  con 
siderable  force  in  the  midst  of  his  harsh  judgments 
against  unbelief  and  unbelievers.  "  There  are,  in 
fact,"  he  had  remarked  a  year  or  two  after  he  had 
attained  his  majority,  "  few  reasoning  Christians  ;  the 
majority  of  them  are  swayed  more  by  the  usages  of 
the  world  than  by  any  definite  perception  of  what 
constitutes  duty — so  far,  we  mean,  as  relates  to  the 
subjugation  of  vices  which  are  incorporated,  as  it 
were,  into  the  existence  of  society  ;  else  why  is  it 
that  intemperance,  and  slavery,  and  war,  have  not 
ere  this  in  a  measure  been  driven  from  our  land  ?  " 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  267 

As  the  months  of  his  earnest  young  life  passed 
him  by,  they  showed  him  as  they  went  how  horrible 
a  thing  was  faith  without  works.  "  By  their  fruits 
ye  shall  know  them,"  the  Master  had  said,  and  more 
and  more  as  he  saw  how  many  and  great  were  the 
social  evils  to  be  reformed,  and  in  what  dire  need 
stood  his  country  of  righteous  action,  did  he  come 
to  put  increasing  emphasis  on  conduct,  as  the  one 
thing  needful  to  rid  the  land  of  the  triple  curse  of 
slavery,  intemperance,  and  war.  As  he  mused  upon 
these  giant  evils,  and  the  desolation  which  they  were 
singly  and  together  causing  in  the  world,  and  upon 
the  universal  apathy  of  the  churches  in  respect  of 
them,  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  current  religion  was 
an  offence  and  an  abomination.  And  in  his  prophetic 
rage  he  denounced  it  as  "  a  religion  which  quadrates 
with  the  natural  depravity  of  the  heart,  giving 
license  to  sin,  restraining  no  lust,  mortifying  not  the 
body,  engendering  selfishness,  and  cruelty  ! — a  relig 
ion  which  walks  in  silver  slippers,  on  a  carpeted 
floor,  having  thrown  off  the  burden  of  the  cross  and 
changed  the  garments  of  humiliation  for  the  splendid 
vestments  of  pride  !  a  religion  which  has  no  courage, 
no  faithfulness,  no  self-denial,  deeming  it  better  to 
give  heed  unto  men  than  unto  God  !  "  This  was  in 
the  autumn  of  1829,  but  though  he  was  thus  violently 
denunciatory  of  contemporary  religion,  the  severity 
of  his  judgment  against  the  skepticism  of  the  times 
had  not  been  materially  modified.  He  still  regarded 
the  unbeliever  with  narrow  distrust  and  dislike. 
When,  after  his  discharge  from  Baltimore  jail,  he  was 
engaged  in  delivering  his  message  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  and  was  seeking  an  opportunity  to  make 


\ 


268  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

what  he  knew  known  to  the  people  of  Boston,  he  was 
forced,  after  vainly  advertising  for  a  hall  or  meeting 
house  in  which  to  give  his  three  lectures,  to  accept 
the  offer  of  Abner  Kneeland's  Society  of  Infidels  of 
the  use  of  their  hall  for  that  purpose.  The  spirit  of 
these  people,  branded  by  the  community  as  blas 
phemers,  and  by  himself,  too,  in  all  probability, 
Garrison  saw  to  be  as  admirable  as  the  spirit  dis 
played  by  the  churches  of  the  city  toward  him  and 
his  cause  was  unworthy  and  sinful.  But,  grateful  as 
he  was  for  the  hospitality  of  the  infidels,  he,  neverthe 
less,  rather  bluntly  informed  them  that  he  had  no 
sympathy  with  their  religious  notions,  and  that  he 
looked  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  to  evangelicism, 
and  to  it  alone. 

A  few  years  in  the  university  of  experience,  where 
he  learned  that  conduct  is  better  than  creeds,  and 
living  more  than  believing,  served  to  emancipate  him 
from  illiberal  prejudices  and  narrow  sectarianism. 
He  came  to  see,  "  that  in  Christ  Jesus  all  stated 
observances  are  so  many  self-imposed  and  unneces 
sary  yokes  ;  and  that  prayer  and  worship  are  all 
embodied  in  that  pure,  meek,  child-like  state  of  heart 
which  affectionately  and  reverently  breathes  but  one 
petition — '  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven.'  Religion  .  .  .  is  nothing  but  love — perfect 
love  toward  God  and  toward  man — without  formality, 
without  hypocrisy,  without  partiality — depending 
upon  no  outward  form  to  preserve  its  vitality  or 
prove  its  existence." 

This  important  change  in  Mr.  Garrison's  religious 
convictions  became  widely  known  in  the  summer  of 
1836  through  certain  editorial  strictures  of  his  upon 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  269 

a  speech  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  at  Pittsburgh,  on  the 
subject  of  the  Sabbath.  The  good  doctor  was  cold 
enough  on  the  question  of  slavery,  which  involved 
not  only  the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  but  of  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  millions  of  human  beings.  If 
Christianity  was  truly  of  divine  origin,  and  Garrison 
devoutly  believed  that  it  was,  it  would  approve  its 
divinity  by  its  manner  of  dealing  with  the  vices  and 
evils  which  were  dragging  and  chaining  the  feet  of 
men  to  the  gates  of  hell.  If  it  parleyed  with  iniquity, 
if  it  passed  its  victims  by  on  the  other  side,  if  it  did 
not  war  incessantly  and  energetically  to  put  down 
sin,  to  destroy  wickedness,  it  was  of  the  earth,  earthy; 
and  its  expounders  were  dumb  dogs  where  they 
should  bark  the  loudest  and  bite  the  hardest ;  and 
Dr.  Beecher  appeared  to  him  one  of  these  dumb  dogs, 
who,  when  he  opened  his  mouth  at  all,  was  almost 
sure  to  open  it  at  the  men  who  were  trying  through 
evil  report  and  good  to  express  in  their  lives  the 
spirit  of  Him  who  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave 
His  Son  to  die  to  redeem  it.  He  bayed  loud  enough 
at  the  Abolitionists  but  not  at  the  abomination  which 
they  were  attacking.  He  was  content  to  leave  it  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  two  hundred  years.  No  such 
liberal  disposition  of  the  question  of  the  Sabbath  was 
he  willing  to  allow.  He  waxed  eloquent  in  its  behalf. 
His  enthusiasm  took  to  itself  wings  and  made  a  great 
display  of  ecclesiastical  zeal  beautiful  to  behold. 
"  The  Sabbath,"  quoth  the  teacher  who  endeavored 
to  muzzle  the  students  of  Lane  Seminary  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  whose  ultimate  extinction  his 
prophetic  soul  quiescently  committed  to  the  operation 
of  two  centuries  ;  "  the  Sabbath,"  quoth  he,  "  is 


270  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  great  sun  of  the  moral  world''  Out  upon  you, 
said  Garrison,  the  LORD  GOD  is  the  great  sun  of  Hu 
moral  world,  not  the  Sabbath.  It  is  not  one,  but 
every  day  of  the  week  which  is  His,  and  which  mer 
should  be  taught  to  observe  as  holy  days.  It  is  nol 
regard  for  the  forms  of  religion  but  for  the  spirit, 
which  is  essential  to  righteousness.  What  is  the 
command,  '  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it 
holy,'  but  one  of  ten  commandments  ?  Is  the  viola 
tion  of  the  fourth  any  worse  than  the  violation  of  the 
third  or  fifth,  or  sixth  ?  Nowhere  is  it  so  taught  in 
the  Bible.  Yet,  what  is  slavery  but  a  breaking  and 
treading  down  of  the  whole  ten,  what  but  a  vast 
system  of  adultery,  robbery,  and  murder,  the  daily 
and  yearly  infraction  on  an  appalling  scale  not  alone 
of  the  spirit  but  of  the  letter  of  the  decalogue  ? 

Mr.  Garrison  then  passed  to  criticisms  of  a  more 
special  character  touching  the  observance  of  the  day 
thus  :  "  These  remarks  are  made  not  to  encourage 
men  to  do  wrong  at  any  time,  but  to  controvert  a 
pernicious  and  superstitious  notion,  and  one  that  is 
very  prevalent,  that  extraordinary  and  supernatural 
visitations  of  divine  indignation  upon  certain  trans 
gressors  (of  the  Sabbath  particularly  and  almost 
exclusively)  are  poured  out  now  as  in  the  days  of 
Moses  and  the  prophets.  Whatever  claim  the  Sab 
bath  may  have  to  a  strict  religious  observance,  we 
are  confident  it  cannot  be  strengthened,  but  must 
necessarily  be  weakened,  by  all  such  attempts  to 
enforce  or  prove  its  sanctity."  This  pious  but 
rational  handling  of  the  Sabbath  question  gave 
instant  offence  to  the  orthodox  readers  of  the 
Liberator.  For  it  was  enough  in  those  days  to  con- 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  271 

vict  the  editor  of  rank  heresy.  From  one  and  another 
of  his  subscribers  remonstrances  came  pouring  in 
upon  him.  A  young  theological  student  at  Yale 
ordered  his  paper  stopped  in  consequence  of  the 
anti-Sabbatarian  views  of  the  editor.  A  Unitarian 
minister  at  Harvard,  Mass.,  was  greatly  cut  up  by 
reason  thereof,  and  suddenly  saw  what  before  he  did 
not  suspect.  "  I  had  supposed  you,"  he  wrote  in  his 
new  estate,  "  a  very  pious  person,  and  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  Abolitionists  were  religious  persons. 
I  have  thought  of  you  as  another  Wilber- 
force — but  would  Wilberforce  have  spoken  thus  of 
the  day  on  which  the  Son  of  God  rose  from  the 
dead  ?  "  Garrison's  query  in  reply — "  Would  Wilber 
force  have  denied  the  identity  of  Christ  with  the 
Father  ? " — was  a  palpable  hit.  But  as  he  himself 
justly  remarked,  "Such  questions  are  not  arguments, 
but  fallacies  unworthy  of  a  liberal  mind."  Never 
theless,  so  long  as  men  are  attached  to  the  leading 
strings  of  sentiment  rather  than  to  those  of  reason, 
such  questions  will  possess  tremendous  destructive 
force,  as  Mr.  Garrison,  in  his  own  case,  presently  per 
ceived.  He  understood  the  importance  of  not  arous 
ing  against  him  "  denominational  feelings  or  peculi 
arities,"  and  so  had  steered  the  Liberator  clear  of  the 
rocks  of  sectarianism.  But  when  he  took  up  in  its 
columns  the  Sabbath  question  he  ran  his  paper 
directly  among  the  breakers  of  a  religious  contro 
versy.  He  saw  how  it  was  with  him  at  once,  saw 
that  he  had  stirred  up  against  him  all  that  religious 
feeling  which  was  crystallized  around  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  and  that  he  could  not  hope  to  escape  with 
out  serious  losses  in  one  way  or  another.  "  It  is 


272  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 

pretty  certain,"  he  writes  Samuel  J.  May  in  Septem 
ber,  1836,  "that  the  Liberator  will  sustain  a  serious 
loss  in  its  subscriptions  at  the  close  of  the  present 
volume  ;  and  all  appeals  for  aid  in  its  behalf  will  be 
less  likely  to  prevail  than  formerly.  I  am  conscious 
that  a  mighty  sectarian  conspiracy  is  forming  to 
crush  me,  and  it  will  probably  succeed  to  some 
extent." 

This  controversy  over  the  Sabbath  proved  the  thin 
edge  of  differences  and  dissensions,  which,  as  they 
went  deeper  and  deeper,  were  finally  to  rend  asunder 
the  erstwhile  united  Abolition  movement.  The  pe 
riod  was  remarkable  for  the  variety  and  force  of  new 
ideas,  which  were  coming  into  being,  or  passing  into 
general  circulation.  And  to  all  of  them  it  seems  that 
Garrison  was  peculiarly  receptive.  He  took  them  all 
in  and  planted  them  in  soil  of  extraordinary  fertility. 
It  was  immediately  observed  that  it  was  not  only  one 
unpopular  notion  which  he  had  adopted,  but  a  whole 
headful  of  them.  And  every  one  of  these  new  ideas 
was  a  sort  of  rebel-reformer,  a  genuine  man  of  war. 
They  had  come  as  a  protest  against  the  then  existing 
beliefs  and  order  of  things,  come  as  their  enemies  and 
destroyers.  Each  one  of  them  was  in  a  sense  a 
stirrer-up  of  sedition  against  old  and  regnant  rela 
tions  and  facts,  political,  moral,  and  religious.  Who 
ever  espoused  them  as  his  own,  espoused  as  his  own 
also  the  antagonisms,  political,  moral,  and  religious 
which  they  would  excite  in  the  public  mind.  All  of 
which  was  directly  illustrated  in  the  experience  of  the 
editor  of  the  Liberator.  Each  of  these  new  notions 
presently  appeared  in  the  paper  along  with  Abolition 
ism.  What  was  his  intention  timid  people  began  to 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  273 

inquire  ?  Did  he  design  to  carry  them  along  with  the 
Abolition  movement  ?  Suspicious  minds  fancied  they 
saw  "  in  Mr.  Garrison,  a  decided  wish,  nay,  a  firm 
resolve,  in  laboring  to  overthrow  slavery,  to  over 
throw  the  Christian  Sabbath  and  the  Christian  min 
istry.  His  doctrine  is  that  every  day  is  a  Sabbath, 
and  every  man  his  own  minister.  There  are  no 
Christian  ordinances,  there  is  no  visible  church."  His 
no-government  and  non-resistant  ideas  excited  yet 
further  the  apprehensions  of  some  of  his  associates 
for  the  safety  of  that  portion  of  the  present  order  to 
which  they  clung.  As  developed  by  Garrison  they 
seemed  to  deny  the  right  of  the  people  "  to  frame  a 
government  of  laws  to  protect  themselves  against 
those  who  would  injure  them,  and  that  man  can 
apply  physical  force  to  man  rightfully  under  no  cir 
cumstances,  and  not  even  the  parent  can  apply  the 
rod  to  the  child,  and  not  be,  in  the  sight  of  God,  a 
trespasser  and  a  tyrant." 

Garrison  embraced  besides  Perfectionism,  a  sort  of 
political,  moral,  and  religious  Come-outerism,  and 
faith  in  "  universal  emancipation  from  sin."  His 
description  of  himself  abont  this  time  as  "  an  Ishmael- 
itish  editor  "  is  not  bad,  nor  his  quotation  of  "  Woe  is 
me  my  mother  !  for  I  was  born  a  man  of  strife  "  as 
applicable  to  the  growing  belligerency  of  his  rela 
tions  with  the  anti-slavery  brethren  in  consequence 
of  the  new  ideas  and  isms,  which  were  taking  posses 
sion  of  his  mind  and  occupying  the  columns  of  the 
Liberator. 

Among  the  strife-producers  during  this  period  of 
the  anti-slavery  agitation, the  woman's  question  played 
a  principal  part.  Upon  this  as  upon  the  Sabbath 


274  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 

question,  Garrison's  early  position  was  one  of  extreme 
conservatism.  As  late  as  1830,  he  shared  the  common 
opinions  in  regard  to  woman's  sphere,  and  was 
strongly  opposed  to  her  stepping  outside  of  it  into 
that  occupied  by  man.  A  petition  of  seven  hundred 
women  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  to  Congress  in  behalf-  of 
the  Indians  gave  his  masculine  prejudices  a  great 
shock.  "  This  is,  in  our  opinion,"  he  declared,  "  an 
uncalled  for  interference,  though  made  with  holiest 
intentions.  We  should  be  sorry  to  have  this  practice 
become  general.  There  would  then  be  no  question 
agitated  in  Congress  without  eliciting  the  informal 
and  contrariant  opinions  of  the  softer  sex."  This  top 
lofty  sentiment  accorded  well  with  the  customary 
assumption  and  swagger  of  one  of  the  lords  of  crea 
tion.  For  the  young  reformer  was  evidently  a  firm 
believer  in  the  divine  right  of  his  sex  to  rule  in  the 
world  of  politics.  But  as  he  grew  taller  and  broader 
the  horizon  of  woman  widened,  and  her  sphere 
embraced  every  duty,  responsibility,  and  right  for 
which  her  gifts  and  education  fitted  her.  The  hard 
and  fast  lines  of  sex  disappeared  from  his  geography 
of  the  soul.  He  perceived  for  a  truth  that  in  human 
ity  there  was  neither  male  nor  female,  but  that  man 
and  woman  were  one  in  work  and  destiny — equals  in 
bearing  the  world's  burden,  equals  in  building  the 
world's  glory.  He  heard  in  his  heart  the  injunction  of 
the  eternal  wisdom  saying  :  "Whom  God  hath  joined 
together  let  no  man  put  asunder  ;  "  and  straightway 
disposed  his  opinions  and  prejudices,  his  thoughts 
and  purposes  in  cordial  obedience  therewith.  He  saw 
at  once  the  immense  value  of  woman's  influence  in 
the  temperance  movement,  he  saw  no  less  quickly  her 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  275 

importance  in  the  anti-slavery  reform,  and  he  had 
appealed  to  her  for  help  in  the  work  of  both,  and  she 
had  justified  his  appeal  and  proven  herself  the  most 
devoted  of  coadjutors. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  movement  against  slavery 
the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  sexes  was  strictly 
observed  in  the  formation  of  societies.  The  men  had 
theirs,  the  women  theirs.  Each,  sexually  considered, 
were  very  exclusive  affairs.  It  did  not  seem  to  have 
occurred  to  the  founders  of  the  New  England  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  or  of  the  national  organization  to 
admit  women  to  membership  in  them,  nor  did  it  seem 
to  enter  the  mind  of  any  woman  to  prefer  a  request 
to  be  admitted  into  them.  Anti-slavery  women  organ 
ized  themselves  into  female  anti-slavery  societies,  did 
their  work  apart  from  the  men,  who  plainly  regarded 
themselves  as  the  principals  in  the  contest,  and 
women  as  their  moral  seconds.  The  first  shock, 
which  this  arrangement,  so  accordant  with  the  oak- 
and-ivy  notion  of  the  masculine  half  of  mankind, 
received,  came  when  representatives  of  the  gentler 
sex  dropped  the  secondary  role  assigned  women  in 
the  conflict,  and  began  to  enact  that  of  a  star.  The 
advent  of  the  sisters  Grimke  upon  the  anti-slavery 
stage  as  public  speakers,  marked  the  advent  of  the  V 
idea  of  women's  rights,  of  their  equality  with  men  in 
the  struggle  with  slavery. 

At  the  start  these  ladies  delivered  their  message  to 
women  only,  but  by-and-bye  as  the  fame  of  their  elo 
quence  spread  men  began  to  appear  among  their 
auditories.  Soon  they  were  thrilling  packed  halls 
and  meeting-houses  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
comprised  of  men  and  women.  The  lesson  which 


276  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

their  triumph  enforced  of  women's  fitness  to  enact 
the  r61e  of  principals  in  the  conflict  with  slavery  was 
not  lost  upon  the  sex.  Women  went,  saw,  and  con 
quered  their  prejudices  against  the  idea  of  equality  ; 
likewise,  many  men.  The  good  seed  of  universal  lib 
erty  and  equality  fell  into  fruitful  soil  and  germinated 
in  due  time  within  the  heart  of  the  moral  movement 
against  slavery. 

The  more  that  Sarah  and  Angelina  Grimk6  reflected 
upon  the  sorry  position  to  which  men  had  assigned 
women  in  Church  and  State  the  more  keenly  did  they 
feel  its  injustice  and  degradation.  They  beat  with 
their  revolutionary  idea  of  equality  against  the  iron 
bars  of  the  cage-like  sphere  in  which  they  were  born, 
and  within  which  they  were  doomed  to  live  and  die 
by  the  law  of  masculine  might.  At  heart  they  were 
rebels  against  the  foundation  principle  of  masculine 
supremacy  on  which  society  and  government  rested. 
While  pleading  for  the  freedom  of  the  slaves,  the 
sense  of  their  own  bondage  and  that  of  their  sisters 
rose  up  before  them  and  revealed  itself  in  bitter  ques 
tionings.  "  Are  we  aliens,"  asked  Angelina,  "  because 
we  are  women  ?  Are  we  bereft  of  citizenship  because 
we  are  the  mothers,  wives,  and  daughters  of  a  mighty  peo 
ple  ?  Have  women  no  country — no  interests  staked  on 
the  public  weal — no  partnership  in  a  nation's  guilt  or 
shame  ?  "  This  discontent  with  the  existing  social 
establishment  in  its  relation  to  women  received  sym 
pathetic  responses  from  many  friends  to  whom  the 
sisters  communicated  the  contagion  of  their  unrest 
and  dissatisfaction.  Angelina  records  that,  "At 
friend  Chapman's,  where  we  spent  a  social  evening,  I 
had  a  long  talk  with  the  brethren  on  the  rights  of 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  277 

women,  and  found  a  very  general  sentiment  prevail 
ing  that  it  is  time  our  fetters  were  broken.  L.  M. 
Child  and  Maria  Chapman  strongly  supported  this 
view  ;  indeed  very  many  seem  to  think  a  new  order 
of  things  is  very  desirable  in  this  respect." 

This  prevalence  of  a  sentiment  favorable  to  women's 
rights,  which  Angelina  observed  in  Mrs.  Chapman's 
parlors  possessed  no  general  significence.  For  true 
to  the  character  of  new  ideas,  this  particular  new 
idea  did  not  bring  peace  but  a  sword.  It  set  Aboli 
tion  brethren  against  Abolition  brethren,  and  blew 
into  a  flame  the  differences  of  leaders  among  them 
selves.  But  the  first  irruption  of  strife  which  it 
caused  proceeded  from  without,  came  from  the 
church  or  rather  from  the  clergy  of  the  Orthodox 
Congregational  churches  of  Massachusetts.  This  cler 
ical  opposition  to  the  idea  of  women's  rights  found 
expression  in  the  celebrated  "Pastoral  Letter,"  issued 
by  the  General  Association  of  Ministers  of  that 
denomination  to  the  churches  of  the  same  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1837.  This  ecclesiastical  bull  had  two  dis 
tinct  purposes  to  accomplish  ;  first,  to  discourage  the 
agitation  of  the  slavery  question  by  excluding  anti- 
slavery  agents  from  lecturing  upon  that  subject  in 
the  churches  ;  and,  second,  to  suppress  the  agitation 
of  the  woman's  question  by  setting  the  seal  of  the  dis 
approval  of  the  clergy  to  the  appearance  of  women  in 
their  new  and  revolutionary  role  of  public  speakers 
and  teachers  on  the  burning  subjects  of  the  times. 
The  reverend  authors  threw  up  their  hands  and 
eyes  in  holy  horror  at  the  "  widespread  and  perma 
nent  injury  "  which  seemed  to  them  to  threaten  "the 
female  character."  They  scorned  the  new-fangled 


278  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

notion  of  woman's  independence,  and  asked  for  noth 
ing  better  than  the  Pauline  definition  of  her  "  appro 
priate  duties  and  influence."  "The  power  of  women," 

quoth  they,  "  is  in  her  dependence When   she 

assumes  the  place  and  tone  of  man  as  a  public 
reformer,  our  care  and  protection  of  her  seem  unnec 
essary  ;  we  put  ourselves  in  self-defence  against  her, 
she  yields  the  power  which  God  has  given  her  for 
protection,  and  her  character  becomes  unnatural  !  " 

These  Congregational  ministers  were  not  the  only 
representatives  of  the  lordly  sex  to  whom  the  idea  of 
women's  equality  was  repellent.     Anti-slavery  breth- 
.  ren,  too,  were  flinging  themselves  into  all  postures  of 
self-defence  against  the  dangerous  innovation,  which 
the  sisters  Grimke"   were  letting  into  the  social  estab 
lishment,  by  itinerating  "  in  the  character  of  public 
lecturers  and  teachers."     Amos  A.  Phelps  was  quite 
as  strongly  opposed  to  women  preachers,  to  women 
assuming  the  "  place  and  tone  of  man   as  a  public 
reformer,"  as  Nehemiah  Adams  himself.     He  remon 
strated  with   them   against  their  continued  assump 
tion  of  the  character  of  public  lecturers  and  teachers, 
but  to  no  purpose.   Sarah  and  Angelina  were  uncom 
promising,  refused  to  yield  one  iota  of  their  rights  as 
"  moral  and  responsible  beings."  They  firmly  declined 
to   make  their  Quakerism  and  not  their  womenhood 
their  warrant  for  "  exercising  the  rights  and  perform 
ing  the  duties"  of  rational  and  responsible  beings,  for 
the  sake  of  quieting   tender   consciences,  like  that  of 
Phelps,  among  the  anti-slavery  brethren.  They  were  in 
earnest  and  demanded  to  know  "whether  there  is  such 
\   a  thing  as  male  and  female  virtues,  male  and  female 
-    duties."  Angelina  writes:  "My  opinion  is  that  there 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  279 

is  no  difference,  and  that  this  false  idea  has  run  the  f 
ploughshare  of  ruin  over  the  whole  field  of  morality,  j 
My  idea  is  that  whatever  is  morally  right  for  a  man  j 
to  do  is  morally  right  for  a  woman  to  do.  I  recog-  I 
nize  no  rights  but  human  rights.  ...  I  am  persuaded  i 
that  woman  is  not  to  be,  as  she  has  been,  a  mere  sec- , 
ond-hand  agent  in  the  regeneration  of  a  fallen  world,} 
but  the  acknowledged  equal  and  co-worker  with 
man  in  this  glorious  work." 

The  debate  on  the  subject  threatened  for  a  short  i 
season  to  push  the  woman's  question  to  the  level  of  1 
the  slavery  question.     The  contention  became  acri- 
monius,  and  the  alienation  of  friendships  was  wide-  j 
spread.     John  G.  Whittier  and  Theodore  D.   Weld, 
who    were    both    avowed    believers    in  the  idea  of 
women's  rights,  nevertheless,  felt  that  the  agitation 
of  the  subject,  under  the  circumstances,  was  a  grave 
blunder.     "  No    moral    enterprise,    when   prosecuted 
with  ability  and  any  sort  of  energy,  ever  failed  under 
heaven,"    wrote  Weld    to    Sarah  and  Angelina,   "  so 
long  as  its  conductors  pushed  the  main  principle,  and 
did  not  strike  off  until  they  reached  the  summit  level. 
On  the  other  hand,  every  reform  that  ever  foundered  ( 
in    mid-sea,  was   capsized   by  one    of   these    gusty  ) 
side-winds."     Both  Weld    and  Whittier   endeavored 
to  dissuade  the  sisters  from  mooting  the  question  of 
women's  rights  at  all,   and   to   urge  them  to  devote 
their  voice  and   pen  to   the  "  main  principle  "  exclu 
sively.     But  Angelina  confesses  that  "  our  judgment 
is  not  convinced,  and  we  hardly  know  what   to  do 
about   it,    for   we   have   just  as  high  an  opinion   of 
Brother  Garrison's  views,  and  he  says  '  go  on'  "     The  ' 
influence  of  Weld  and  Whittier  finally  prevailed  with 


280  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

:  "Carolina's  high-souled  daughters,"  and  they  re 
frained  from  further  agitation  of  the  subject  ol 
Women's  rights  lest  they  should  thereby  injure  the 
cause  of  the  slave. 

But  the  leaven  of  equality  was  not  so  effectually 
disposed  of.     It  had  secured  permanent  lodgment  in 
the  anti-slavery  body,  and  the  fermentation  started 
by  it,  went  briskly  on.     Such  progress  did  the  princi 
ple  of  women's  rights  make  among  the  Eastern  Abo 
litionists,  especially  among  those  of  Massachusetts, 
,  that   in  the  spring  of  1838  the  New  England   Anti- 
!  Slavery    Society   voted    to   admit    women    to   equal 
i  membership  with  men.     This  radical  action  was  fol 
lowed  by  a  clerical  secession  from  the  society,  which 
made  a  stir  at  the  time.     For  among  the  seceding 
members  was    no    less   a   personage   than   Amos  A. 
;  Phelps,  who  was  the  general  agent  of  the  Massachu- 
;  setts     Society,    and     therefore     one    of    Garrison's 
stanchest  supporters.     The  reform  instituted  by  the 
New  England  Society,  in  respect  of  the  character  of 
its  membership,  was  quickly  adopted  by  the  Massa 
chusetts  Society  and  by  several  local  organizations, 
all  of  which  set  the  ball  of  discord  spinning  among 
the  brethren  at  a  great  rate.     But  by  this  time  all  the 
f  new  ideas,  Sabbatical,  no-government,  perfectionist, 
I  non-resistance,  as  well  as  women's  rights,  were  within 
i  the  anti-slavery  arena,  and  fencing  and  fighting  for  a 

chance  to  live,  with  the  old  ideas  and  the  old  order. 
.1      Garrison  championed  all  of  the  new  ideas,  and   in 
;  doing  so  arrayed    against    himself  all   of  the  special 
[  champions  of  the  existing  establishments.     In  his  re 
duced   physical  state,  the  reformer  was  not  equal  to 
the  tremendous  concussions  of  this  "  era  of  activity," 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  28 1 

as  Emerson  named  it.  At  moments  he  appeared  be 
wildered  amid  the  loud,  fierce  clamor  of  contend 
ing  ideas,  each  asserting  in  turn  its  moral  primacy. 
For  an  instant  the  vision  of  the  great  soul  grew  dim, 
the  great  heart  seemed  to  have  lost  its  bearings.  All 
of  the  new  ideas  thawed  and  melted  into  each  other, 
dissolved  into  one  vague  and  grand  solidarity  of 
reforms.  The  voice  of  the  whole  was  urging  him 
amid  the  gathering  moral  confusion  to  declare  him 
self  for  all  truth,  and  he  hearkened  irresolute,  with 
divided  mind.  "  I  feel  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  know 
what  to  do  " — he  confesses  at  this  juncture  to  George  *. 
W.  Benson,  "  whether  to  go  into  all  the  principles  of 
holy  reform  and  make  the  Abolition  cause  subordi 
nate,  or  whether  still  to  persevere  in  the  one  beaten 
track  as  hitherto.  Circumstances  hereafter  must 
determine  this  matter."  That  was  written  in  August, 
1837  ;  a  couple  of  months  later  circumstances  had 
not  determined  the  matter,  it  would  seem,  from  the 
following  extract  from  a  letter  to  his  brother-in-law  : 
"  It  is  not  my  intention  at  present  to  alter  either  the 
general  character  or  course  of  the  Liberator.  My 
work  in  the  anti-slavery  cause  is  not  wholly  done  ; 
as  soon  as  it  is,  I  shall  know  it,  and  shall  be  pre 
pared,  I  trust,  to  enter  upon  a  mightier  work  of 
reform." 

Meanwhile  the  relations  between  the  editor  of  the 
Liberator  and  the  managers  of  the  national  organiza 
tion  were  becoming  decidedly  strained.  For  it  seemed 
to  them  that  Garrison  had  changed  the  anti-slavery 
character  of  his  paper  by  the  course  which  he  had 
taken  in  regard  to  the  new  ideas  which  were  finding 
their  way  into  its  columns  to  the  manifest  harm  of 


282  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  main  principle  of  immediate  emancipation.  This 
incipient  estrangement  between  the  pioneer  and  the 
executive  committee  of  the  national  society  was 
greatly  aggravated  by  an  occurrence,  which,  at  the 
time,  was  ^elevated  to  an  importance  that  it  did  not 
deserve.  This  occurrence  was  what  is  known  in  anti- 
slavery  annals  as  the  '•  Clerical  Appeal."  Five  clergy 
men,  who  were  obviously  unfriendly  to  Garrison,  and 
distrustful  of  the  religious  and  social  heresies  which 
they  either  saw  or  fancied  that  they  saw  in  the  Liber 
ator ;  and  withal  jealous  lest  the  severities  of  the  paper 
against  particular  pro-slavery  ministers  should  dimin 
ish  the  influence  and  sacred  character  of  their  order, 
published,  in  August  of  1837,  in  the  New  England  Spec 
tator  an  acrid  arraignment  of  editor  and  paper,  upon 
five  several  charges,  designed  to  bring  Garrisonism  to 
the  block  and  speedy  death.  This  document  was  fol 
lowed  by  two  other  appeals  by  way  of  supplement 
and  rejoinder  from  the  same  source,  an  "  Andover 
Appeal "  from  kindred  spirits  and  a  bitter,  per 
sonal  letter  from  one  of  the  "  seventy  agents,"  all  of 
them  having  a  common  motive  and  purpose,  viz., 
sectarian  distrust  and  dislike  of  Garrison,  and  desire 
to  reduce  his  anti-slavery  influence  to  a  nullity. 

In  his  diseased  and  suffering  bodily  condition,  Gar 
rison  naturally  enough  fell  into  the  error  of  exagger 
ating  the  gravity  of  these  attacks  upon  himself.  Insig 
nificant  in  an  historical  sense,  they  really  were  an  epi 
sode,  an  unpleasant  one  to  be  sure  for  the  time  being, 
but  no  more.  To  Garrison,  however,  they  appeared 
in  a  wholly  different  light.  It  seemed  a  rebellion  on 
a  pretty  grand  scale,  which  called  for  all  his  strength, 
all  the  batteries  of  the  friends  of  freedom,  all  his  ter- 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  283 

rible  and  unsparing  severities  of  speech  to  quell  it. 
All  his  artillery  he  posted  promptly  in  positions  com 
manding  the  camp  of  the  mutineers,  and  began  to 
pour,  as  only  he  could,  broadside  after  broad 
side  into  the  works  of  the  wretched  little  camp  of 
rebels.  He  could  hardly  have  expended  more  energy 
and  ammunition  in  attacking  a  strategical  point  of  { 
Southern  slavery,  than  was  expended  in  punishing  a  \ 
handful  of  deserters  and  insurgents.  But,  alas  !  he 
was  not  satisfied  to  draw  upon  his  own  resources  for 
crushing  the  clerical  sedition,  he  demanded  reinforce 
ments  from  the  central  authorities  in  New  York  as 
well.  And  then  began  a  contention  between  him  and 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  National  Society, 
which  issued  only  in  ill. 

Garrison  considered   it  the  duty  of  the  Executive 
Committee  to  disapprove  officially  of  the  action  of  the 
Massachusetts  recalcitrants,  and  also  the  duty  of  its 
organ,  the  Emancipator,  to  rebuke  the  authors  of  the 
"  appeals."  Not  so,  replied  Lewis  Tappan  and  Elizur  ^ 
Wright,  your  request  is  unreasonable.    If  you  choose 
to  make  a  mountain  out  of   a  molehill,  you  choose  to 
make  a  mistake  which  the  Executive  Committee  will; 
not   repeat.     Your  troubles  are  wholly  local,   of  no  f 
general  importance  whatever.  "What!    Shall  a  whole 
army  stop  its  aggressive  movements  into  the  territor- 1 
ies  of  its  enemies  to  charge  bayonets  on  five  soldiers,  j 
subalterns,  company,  or  even    staff  officers,  because  ( 
they  stray  into  a  field  to  pick  berries,  throw  stones  or  \ 
write  an  '  appeal  ? '     To  be  frank  with  you  we  shall 
make  bold  to  say  that  we  do  not  approve    of    the 
appeal,  it  is  very  censurable,    its  spirit  is  bad,   but 
neither  do  we  approve  of  your  action  in  the  premises, 


284  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

it  is  also  very  censurable  and  its  spirit  is  bad,     What 
then  ?  shall  the  Executive  Committee  condemn  the 
authors  of  the  appeal  and  not  condemn  the   editor  of 
I  the   Liberator  also  ?     If   strict    military    justice    were 
|  done  should  not  both  parties  be  cashiered  ?     Let  the 
Sabbath  and  the  theoretic  theology  of  the  priesthood 
alone  for  the  present."     "  I  could   have  wished,  yes,  I 
have    wished    from    the    bottom    of    my    soul,"    it    is 
Wright  who  now  holds  the  pen,  "  that  yon  could  con 
duct  that  dear  paper,  the  Liberator,  in  the  singleness 
of  purpose    of  its  first    years,  without   traveling  off 
from    the  ground    of   our   true,  noble,  heart-stirring 
Declaration  of  Sentiments — without  breathing  senti 
ments  which  are  novel  and  shocking  to  the  commun- 
,  ity,  and  which  seem  to  me  to  have  no  logical  sequence 
from   the   principles  on   which   we  are   associated   as 
Abolitionists.    I  cannot  but  regard  the  taking  hold  of 
one  great   moral  enterprise  while  another  is  in  hand 
!  and  but   half  achieved,  as  an  outrage  upon  common- 
;  sense,   somewhat   like   that  of  the  dog  crossing   the 
river  with  his  meat.     But   you  have  seen  fit  to  intro 
duce  to  the   public  some  novel  views — I  refer  especi 
ally  to  your  sentiments  on  government  and   religious 
v  perfection — and  they  have  produced  the  effect  which 
was  to  have  been   expected.     And    now   considering 
what  stuff  human  nature  is  made  of,  is  it  to  be  won 
dered  at  that  some  honest-hearted,  thorough-going 
Abolitionists  should  have  lost  their  equanimity  ?     As 
you  well  know  I  am  comparatively  no  bigot   to  any 
'  creed,  political  or   theological,  yet   to   tell   the   plain 
truth,  I  look  upon  your   notions   of  government  and 
;    religious    perfection     as    downright    fanaticism — as 
!    harmless  as  they  are  absurd.     I  would  not  care  a  pin's 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  285 

head  if  they  were  preached  to  all  Christendom  ;    for 
it  is  not  in  the  human   mind  (except  in  a  peculiar  ; 
and,  as  I  think,  diseased  state)  to  believe  them."  / 

Barring  the  extreme  plainness  of  speech  with  which 
Wright  and  Tappan  gave  their  advice  to  Mr.  Garri 
son,  it  was  in  the  main  singularly  sound  and  wise. 
But  the  pioneer  did  not  so  regard  it.  He  was  pos 
sessed  with  his  idea  of  the  importance  of  chastising 
the  clerical  critics,  and  of  the  duty  of  the  Executive 
Committee  and  of  the  Emancipator  to  back  him  in  the 
undertaking.  His  temper  was,  under  all  circum 
stances,  masterful  and  peremptory.  It  was  never 
more  masterful  and  peremptory  than  in  its  manage 
ment  of  this  business.  The  very  reasonable  course  of 
the  Board  at  New  York  suggested  to  his  mind  a  pre-- 
dominance  of  "  sectarianism  at  headquarters,"  seemed 
to  him  "criminal  and  extraordinary."  As  the  Execu-i 
tive  Committee  and  its  organ  would  not  rebuke  the 
schismatics,  he  was  moved  to  rebuke  the  Executive 
Committee  and  its  organ  for  their  "  blind  and 
temporizing  policy."  And  so  matters  within  the 
movement  against  slavery  went,  with  increasing 
momentum,  from  bad  to  worse. 

The  break  in  the  anti-slavery  ranks  widened  as  new 
causes  of  controversy  arose  between  the  management 
in  Boston  and  the  management  at  New  York.  The 
Massachusetts  Abolitionists  had  stood  stanchly  by 
Garrison  against  the  clerical  schismatics.  They  also 
inclined  to  his  side  in  his  trouble  with  the  national 
board.  Instead  of  one  common  center  of  activity  and 
leadership  the  anti-slavery  reform  began  now  to 
develop  two  centers  of  activity  and  leadership.  Gar 
rison  and  the  Liberator  formed  the  moral  nucleus  at 


286  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

one  end,  the  Executive  Committee  and  the  Emancipa 
tor  the  moral  nucleus  at  the  other.  Much  of  the  ener 
gies  of  the  two  sides  were  in  those  circumstances, 
absorbed  in  stimulating  and  completing  the  pro 
cesses  which  were  to  ultimate  in  the  organic  division 
of  the  body  of  the  movement  against  slavery.  When 
men  once  begin  to  quarrel  they  will  not  stop  for  lack 
of  subjects  to  dispute  over.  There  will  be  no  lack, 
for  before  one  disputed  point  is  settled  another  has 
arisen.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the  box  of  evils.  Begin 
nings  must  be  avoided,  else  if  one  evil  escapes,  others 
will  follow.  The  anti-slavery  Pandora  had  let  out  one 
little  imp  of  discord  and  many  big  and  little  imps 
were  incontinently  following. 

Against  all  of  the  new  ideas  except  one,  viz.,  the 
idea  of  anti-slavery  political  action,  the  New  York 
leadership,  speaking  broadly,  had  opposed  itself.  But 
as  if  by  some  strange  perversity  of  fate,  this  particu 
lar  new  idea  was  the  only  one  of  the  new  ideas  to 
which  the  Boston  leadership  did  not  take  kindly.  It 
became  in  time  as  the  very  apple  of  the  eye  to  the 
management  of  the  National  Society.  And  the  more 
ardently  it  was  cherished  by  them,  the  more  hateful 
did  it  become  with  the  Boston  Board.  It  was  the 
only  one  of  the  new  ideas  which  had  any  logical 
sequence  from  the  Abolition  cause.  In  a  country 
where  the  principle  of  popular  suffrage  obtains,  all 
successful  moral  movements  must  sometime  ultimate 
in  political  action.  There  is  no  other  way  of  fixing  in 
laws  the  changes  in  public  sentiment  wrought  during 
this  period  of  agitation.  The  idea  of  political  action 
was  therefore  a  perfectly  natural  growth  from  the 
moral  movement  against  slavery.  The  only  reason- 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  287 

able  objection  to  it  would  be  one  which  went  to  show 
that  it  had  arrived  out  of  due  course,  that  its  appear 
ance  at  any  given  time  was  marked  by  prematurity  in 
respect  of  the  reasons,  so  to  speak,  of  the  reform. 
For  every  movement  against  a  great  social  wrong 
as  was  the  anti-slavery  movement  must  have  its 
John-the-Baptist  stage,  its  period  of  popular  awaken 
ing  to  the  nature  and  enormity  of  sin  and  the  duty 
of  immediate  repentance. 

The  anti-slavery  enterprise  was  at  the  time  of  the 
controversy  between  the  New  York  and  the  Boston 
Boards  in  this  first  stage  of  its  growth.  It  had  not 
yet  progressed  naturally  out  of  it  into  its  next  phase 
of  political  agitation.  True  there  were  tendencies 
more  or  less  strong  to  enter  the  second  stage  of  its 
development,  but  they  seem  irregular,  personal,  and 
forced.  The  time  had  not  come  for  the  adoption  of 
the  principle  of  associated  political  action  against 
slavery.  But  the  deep  underlying  motive  of  the  advo 
cates  of  the  third-party  idea  was  none  the  less  a  grand 
one,  viz.,  "to  have  a  free  Northern  nucleus,"  as  Elizur 
Wright  put  it,  "a  standard  flung  to  the  breeze — some 
thing  around  which  to  rally."  Garrison  probed  to 
the  quick  the  question  in  a  passage  of  an  address  to 
the  Abolitionists,  which  is  here  given  :  "  Abolition 
ists  !  you  are  now  feared  and  respected  by  all  politi 
cal  parties,  not  because  of  the  number  of  votes  you 
can  throw,  so  much  as  in  view  of  the  moral  integrity 
and  sacred  regard  to  principle  which  you  have 
exhibited  to  the  country.  It  is  the  religious  aspect  of 
your  enterprise  which  impresses  and  overawes  men 
of  every  sect  and  party.  Hitherto  you  have  seemed 
to  be  actuated  by  no  hope  of  preferment  or  love  of 


288  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

power,  and  therefore  have  established,  even  in  the 
minds  of  your  enemies,  confidence  in  your  disinter 
estedness.  If  you  shall  now  array  yourselves  as  a 
political  party,  and  hold  out  mercenary  rewards  to 
induce  men  to  rally  under  your  standard,  there  is 
reason  to  fear  that  you  will  be  regarded  as  those  who 
have  made  the  anti-slavery  cause  a  hobby  to  ride  into 
office,  however  plausible  or  sound  may  be  your  pre 
texts  for  such  a  course.  You  cannot,  you  ought  not, 
to  expect  that  the  political  action  of  the  State  will 
move  faster  than  the  religious  action  of  the  Church, 
in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  ;  and  it  is  a  fact 
not  less  encouraging  than  undeniable,  that  both  the 
Whig  and  Democratic  parties  have  consulted  the 
wishes  of  Abolitionists  even  beyond  the  measure  of 
their  real  political  strength.  More  you  cannot  expect 
under  any  circumstances." 

Hotly  around  this  point  raged  the  strife  among 
brethren.  Actuated  by  the  noblest  motives  were 
both  sides  in  the  main,  yet,  both  sides  displayed  in 
the  maintenance  of  their  respective  positions  an 
amount  of  weak  human  nature,  which  proves  that 
perfection  is  not  attainable  even  by  the  most  dis 
interested  of  men.  Harsh  and  abusive  language 
good  men  uttered  against  good  men.  Distrust, 
suspicion,  anger,  and  alienation  took  possession  of 
the  thoughts  of  the  grandest  souls.  Saints  and 
heroes  beseemed  themselves  like  very  ordinary  folk, 
who,  when  they  come  to  differences,  come  directly 
afterward  to  high  words  and  thumping  blows.  The 
love  of  David  and  Jonathan  which  once  united  Garri 
son  and  Phelps,  has  died.  Garrison  and  Stanton 
meet  and  only  exchange  civilities.  They,  too,  have 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  289 

become  completely  alienated,  and  so  on  down  the 
long  list  of  the  "  goodliest  fellowship  .  .  .  whereof 
this  land  holds  record/'  To  a  sweet  and  gentle 
spirit  like  Samuel  J.  May,  the  acrimony  and  scenes 
of  strife  among  his  old  associates  was  unspeakably 
painful.  Writing  to  Garrison  from  South  Scituate, 
May  i,  1839,  he  touches  thus  upon  this  head  :  "  I 
now  think  I  shall  not  go  to  New  York  next  week.  In 
the  first  place,  I  cannot  afford  the  expense  .  .  .  But 
I  confess,  I  do  not  lament  my  inability  to  go  so  much 
as  I  should  do  if  the  prospect  of  an  agreeable  meet 
ing  was  fairer.  I  am  apprehensive  that  it  will  be  not 
so  much  an  anti-slavery  as  anti-Garrison  and  anti- 
Phelps  meeting,  or  anti-board-of-managers  and  anti- 
executive  committee  meeting.  Division  has  done  its 
work,  I  fear,  effectually.  The  two  parties  seem  to 
me  to  misunderstand,  and  therefore  sadly  misrepre 
sent  one  another.  I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  course 
you  and  your  partisans  have  pursued.  It  appears  to 
me  not  consistent  with  the  non-resistant,  patient, 
long-suffering  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  And  I  do  not 
believe  that  either  the  cause  of  the  slave,  or  the  cause 
of  peace  and  righteousness  has  been  advanced." 

The  situation  was  further  complicated  by  the  dis 
covery  of  a  fresh  bone  of  contention.  As  if  to  give 
just  a  shade  of  sordidness  to  the  strife  there  must 
needs  arise  a  money  difficulty  between  the  two  rival 
boards  of  leaders.  This  is  how  our  recent  band  of 
brothers  happened  to  stumble  upon  their  new  apple 
of  discord.  Soon  after  the  formation  of  the  National 
Society  an  arrangement  was  made  with  each  of  the 
State  societies  whereby  they  agreed  to  operate  finan 
cially  their  respective  territories  and  to  turn  into  the 


290  WILLIAM    LLOYD   GARRISON. 

national  treasury  the  several  sums  which  at  the 
annual  meeting  they  obligated  themselves  to  con 
tribute  to  the  general  work.  This  arrangement  was 
intended  to  avoid  the  expense,  conflict,  and  confusion 
consequent  upon  the  employment  of  two  sets  of 
agents  to  work  the  same  territory.  Matters  went  on 
quite  smoothly  under  this  plan  between  the  Massa 
chusetts  Board  and  the  National  Board  until  the  be 
ginning  of  the  year  1839,  when  the  former  fell  into 
arrears  »n  the  payment  of  its  instalments  to  the  latter. 
Money  from  one  cause  or  another,  was  hard  to  get 
at  by  the  Massachusetts  Board,  and  the  treasury  in 
New  York  was  in  an  extremely  low  state.  The  rela 
tions  between  the  two  boards  were,  as  we  have  seen, 
much  strained  and  neither  side  was  in  the  mood  to 
cover  with  charity  the  shortcomings  of  the  other. 
Perhaps  the  board  at  New  York  was  too  exacting, 
perhaps  the  board  at  Boston  Tyas  not  sufficiently 
zealous,  under  the  circumstances.  But  what  were  the 
real  irritating  causes  which  kept  the  two  boards 
at  loggerheads  over  the  matter  need  not  here  be 
determined.  This  fact  is  clear  that  the  arrangement 
was  rescinded  by  the  New  York  management,  and 
their  agents  thrown  into  Massachusetts.  This  action 
only  added  fuel  to  a  fire  which  was  fast  assuming 
the  proportions  of  a  conflagration.  All  the  antU 
Garrisonians  formed  themselves  into  a  new  anti- 
slavery  society,  and  the  National  Board,  as  if  to  burn 
its  bridges,  and  to  make  reconciliation  impossible, 
established  a  new  paper  in  Boston  in  opposition  to 
the  Liberator.  The  work  of  division  was  ended. 
There  was  no  longer  any  vital  connection  between 
the  two  warring  members  of  the  anti-slavery  reform. 


BROTHERLY    LOVE    FAILS.  2gi 

To  tear  the  dead  tissues  asunder  which  still  joined 
them,  all  that  was  wanted  was  anothar  sharp  shock, 
and  this  came  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  National 
Society  in  1840  over  the  woman's  question.  The 
issue,  "  Shall  a  woman  serve  with  men  on  a  com 
mittee  ?  "  was  precipitated  upon  the  convention  by 
the  appointment  of  that  brilliant  young  Quakeress, 
Abby  Kelley,  on  the  business  committee  with  ten 
men.  The  convention  confirmed  her  appointment  by 
about  a  hundred  majority  in  a  total  vote  of  1,008. 
Whereupon  those  opposed  to  this  determination  of 
the  question,  withdrew  from  the  convention  and 
organized  the  American  and  Foreign  Anti-Slavery 
Society.  Garrison  had  triumphed  and  he  was 
immensely  elated  with  his  victory.  His  moral  leader 
ship  was  definitely  established,  never  again  to  be 
disputed  by  his  disciples  and  followers. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

RANDOM    SHOTS. 

THE  division  of  the  anti-slavery  organization  into 
two  distinct  societies  did  not  immediately  terminate 
the  war  between  them.  From  New  York  and  the 
American  society  the  contest  over  the  woman's 
qnestion  was  almost  directly  shifted  after  the  tri 
umph  of  the  Garrisonians  in  the  convention,  to  Lon 
don  and  the  World's  Convention,  which  was  held  in 
the  month  of  June  of  the  year  1840.  To  this  anti- 
slavery  congress  both  of  the  rival  anti-slavery  organ 
izations  in  America  elected  delegates.  These  dele 
gates,  chosen  by  the  older  society  and  by  its  auxili 
aries  of  the  States  of  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylva 
nia,  were  composed  of  women  and  men.  Lucretia 
Mott  was  not  only  chosen  by  the  National  Society, 
but  by  the  Pennsylvania  Society  as  well.  The  Mass 
achusetts  Society  selected  Lydia  Maria  Child,  Maria 
Weston  Chapman,  and  Ann  Green  Phillips  together 
with  their  husbands  among  its  list  of  delegates.  Eng 
land  at  this  time  was  much  more  conservative  on  the 
woman's  question  than  America.  The  managers  of 
the  World's  Convention  did  not  take  kindly  to  the 
notion  of  women  members,  and  signified  to  the  Amer 
ican  societies  who  had  placed  women  among  their 
delegates  that  the  company  of  the  women  was  not  ex 
pected.  Those  societies,  however,  made  no  alteration 

(292) 


RANDOM    SHOTS.  293 

in  deference  to  this  notice,  in  the  character  of  their 
delegations,  but  stood  stoutly  by  their  principle  of 
"  the  EQUAL  BROTHERHOOD  of  the  entire  HUMAN  FAMI 
LY  without  distinction  of  color,  sex,  or  clime." 

A  contest  over  the  admission  of  women  to  member 
ship  in  the  World's  Convention  was  therefore  a  fore 
gone  conclusion.  The  convention,  notwithstanding  a 
brilliant  fight  under  the  lead  of  Wendell  Phillips  in 
behalf  of  their  admission,  refused  to  admit  the  women 
delegates.  The  women  delegates  instead  of  having 
seats  on  the  floor  were  forced  in  consequence  of  this 
decision  to  look  on  from  the  galleries.  Garrison, 
who  with  Charles  Lenox  Remond,  Nathaniel  P.  Rog 
ers,  and  William  Adams,  was  late  in  arriving  in  Eng 
land,  finding,  on  reaching  London  the  women  exclud 
ed  from  the  convention  and  sitting  as  spectators  in 
the  galleries,  determined  to  take  his  place  among 
them,  deeming  that  the  act  of  the  convention  which 
discredited  the  credentials  of  Lucretia  Mott  and  her 
sister  delegates,  had  discredited  his  own  also.  Re 
mond,  Rogers,  and  Adams  followed  his  example  and 
took  their  places  with  the  rejected  women  delegates 
likewise.  The  convention  was  scandalized  at  such 
proceedings,  and  did  its  best  to  draw  Garrison  and 
his  associates  from  the  ladies  in  the  galleries  to  the 
men  on  the  floor,  but  without  avail.  There  they  re 
mained  an  eloquent  protest  against  the  masculine 
narrowness  of  the  convention.  Defeated  in  New  York, 
the  delegates  of  the  new  American  and  Foreign  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  triumphed  over  their  victors  in  Lon 
don.  But  their  achievements  in  the  World's  Conven 
tion,  in  this  regard,  was  not  of  a  sort  to  entitle  them 
to  point  with  any  special  pride  in  after  years  ;  and,  as 


294  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 

a  matter  of  fact,  not  one  of  them  would  have  proba 
bly  cared  to  have  their  success  alluded  to  in  any  sketch 
of  their  lives  for  the  perusal  of  posterity. 

Garrison  and  his   associates  were  the  recipients  of 
the   most  cordial  and    flattering   attention  from  the 
English  Abolitionists.    He  was  quite  lionized,  in  fact, 
at   breakfasts,    fetes,  and    soirees.     The    Duchess    of 
Sunderland  paid  him  marked  attention  and  desired 
his  portrait,  which  was  done  for  Her  Grace  by  the  cele 
brated  artist,  Benjamin  Robert  Haydon,  who  execu 
ted  besides  a  large  painting  of  the  convention,  in  which 
he  grouped  the  most  distinguished  members  with  ref 
erence  to  the  seats  actually  occupied  by  them  during 
its  sessions.     Of  course  to  leave  Garrison  out  of  such 
a  picture  would  almost  seem  like  the  play  of  "  Ham 
let  "  with  Hamlet  omitted,  a  blunder  which  the  artist 
was  by  no  means  disposed  to  make.    Garrison   was 
accordingly   invited  to   sit   to  him    for   his  portrait. 
Haydon,  who  it  seems  was  a  student  of  human  nature 
as  well  as  of  the  human  form,  made  the  discovery  of 
a  fact  which  at  first  surprised  and  angered  him.    In 
making  his  groupings  of  heads  he  decided  to  place 
together  the   Rev.  John  Scoble,  George   Thompson 
and  Charles  Lenox  Remond.    When    Scoble   sat  to 
him,  Haydon  told  him  of  his  design  in  this  regard. 
But,  remarked  Haydon,  Scoble  "  sophisticated  imme 
diately  on  the  propriety  of  placing  the  negro  in  the 
distance,  as  it  would  have  much  greater  effect."    The 
painter  now  applied  his  test  to  Thompson  who  "  saw 
no  objection."     Thompson  did  not  bear    the  test  to 
Haydon's  satisfaction,    who  observed   that  "A   man 
who    wishes  to    place  the    negro   on  a  level  must  no 
longer  regard  him  as  having  been  a  slave,  and  feel 


RANDOM    SHOTS.  295 

annoyed  at  sitting  by  his  side."  But  when  the  artist 
approached  Garrison  on  the  subject  it  was  wholly 
different.  "  I  asked  him,"  Haydon  records  with  obvi 
ous  pleasure,  "  and  he  met  me  at  once  directly." 

Thompson  was  not  altogether  satisfactory  to  Gar 
rison  either  during  this  visit  as  the  following  extract 
from  one  of  his  letters  to  his  wife  evinces  :  "  Dear 
Thompson  has  not  been  strengthened  to  do  battle  for 
us,  as  I  had  confidently  hoped  he  would  be.  He  is 
placed  in  a  difficult  position,  and  seems  disposed  to 
take  the  ground  of  non-committal,  publicly,  respect 
ing  the  controversy  which  is  going  on  in  the  United 
States." 

Garrison,  Rogers,  and  Remond  in  the  company  of 
Thompson  made  a  delightful  trip  into  Scotland  at 
this  time.  Everywhere  the  American  Abolitionists 
were  met  with  distinguished  attentions.  "  Though  I 
like  England  much,  on  many  accounts,"  Garrison 
writes  home  in  high  spirits,  "  I  can  truly  say  that  I 
like  Scotland  better."  An  instance,  which  may  be 
coupled  with  that  one  furnished  by  Haydon,  occurred 
during  this  Scottish  tour,  and  illustrates  strongly  the 
kind  of  stuff  of  which  he  was  made.  On  his  way  to 
the  great  public  reception  tendered  the  American 
delegates  by  the  Glasgow  Emancipation  Society,  a 
placard  with  the  caption,  "  Have  we  no  white  slaves  ?  " 
was  put  into  his  hands.  Upon  acquainting  himself 
with  its  contents  he  determined  to  read  it  to  the  meet 
ing,  and  to  make  it  the  text  of  remarks  when  he  was 
called  upon  to  address  the  meeting.  He  was  present 
ly  announced  and  the  immense  audience  greeted  him 
with  every  manifestation  of  pleasure  and  enthusiasm, 
with  loud  cheering  and  waving  of  handkerchiefs. 


296  WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

Nevertheless  he  held  to  his  purpose  to  speak  upon 
the  subject  of  the  placard,  unwelcome  though  it 
should  prove  to  his  hearers.  "  After  reading  the  in 
terrogation,  I  said  in  reply  :  '  No — broad  as  is  the 
empire,  and  extensive  as  are  the  possessions  of  Great 
Britain,  not  a  single  white  SLAVE  can  be  found  in 
them  all  ;'  and  I  then  went  on  to  show  the  wide  dif 
ference  that  exists  between  the  condition  of  human 
beings  who  are  held  and  treated  as  chattels  personal, 
and  that  of  those  who  are  only  suffering  from  certain 
forms  of  political  injustice  or  governmental  oppres 
sion  .  .  .  .  '  But,'  I  said,  'although  it  is  not  true  that 
England  has  any  white  slaves,  either  at  home  or 
abroad,  is  it  not  true  that  there  are  thousands  of  her 
population,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  who  are  de 
prived  of  their  just  rights,  who  are  grievously  op 
pressed,  who  are  dying  even  in  the  midst  of  abund 
ance,  of  actual  starvation  ?  YES  !  '  and  I  expressly 
called  upon  British  Abolitionists  to  prove  themselves 
the  true  friends  of  suffering  humanity  abroad,  by 
showing  that  they  were  the  best  friend  of  suffering 
humanity  at  home."  Truth,  justice,  duty,  always 
overrode  with  him  the  proprieties,  however  sacredly 
esteemed  by  others.  Of  a  piece  with  this  fact  of  the 
placard  of  the  white  slave  was  his  custom  in  refusing 
the  wine  proffered  by  some  of  his  British  friends  to 
their  guests.  He  was  not  content  with  a  simple  re 
fusal  and  the  implied  rebuke  which  it  involved,  he 
must  needs  couple  his  declaration  with  an  express  re 
buke  to  host  and  hostess  for  tempting  men  into  the 
downward  way  to  drunkenness. 

While    in    attendance    upon    the    sessions    of    the 
World's  Convention  Garrison  received  tidings,  of  the 


RANDOM    SHOTS.  297 

birth  of  his  third  child.  The  second,  whom  he  named 
for  himself,  was  born  in  1838.  The  third,  who  was 
also  a  son,  the  fond  father  named  after  Wendell  Phil 
lips.  Three  children  and  a  wife  did  not  tend  to  a  so 
lution  of  the  always  difficult  problem  of  family  main 
tenance.  The  pressure  of  their  needs  upon  the  hus 
band  sometimes,  simple  as  indeed  they  were  owing  to 
the  good  sense  and  prudence  of  Mrs.  Garrison, 
seemed  to  exceed  the  weight  of  the  atmospheric  col 
umn  to  the  square  inch.  The  fight  for  bread  was  one 
of  the  bitterest  battles  of  the  reformer's  life.  The  ar 
rangement  made  in  1837,  whereby  the  Massachusetts 
Anti-Slavery  Society  assumed  the  responsibility  of  the 
publication  of  the  Liberator,  Garrison  rescinded  at 
the  beginning  of  1838,  for  the  sake  of  giving  himself 
greater  freedom  in  the  advocacy  in  its  columns  of  the 
several  other  reforms  in  which  he  had  enlisted,  be 
sides  Abolitionism.  But  Garrison  and  the  paper  were 
now  widely  recognized  as  anti-slavery  essentials  and 
indispensables.  Many  of  the  leaders  of  the  movement 
perceived,  as  Gerrit  Smith  expressed  it  in  a  letter  en 
closing  fifty  dollars  for  the  editor,  that  "  Among  the 
many  things  in  which  the  Abolitionists  of  our  coun 
try  should  be  agreed,  are  the  two  following  :  (i)  The 
Liberator  must  be  sustained  ;  (2)  its  editor  must  be 
kept  above  want ;  not  only,  nor  mainly,  for  his  own 
or  his  family's  happiness  ;  but  that,  having  his  own 
mind  unembarrassed  by  the  cares  of  griping  poverty, 
he  may  be  a  more  effective  advocate  of  the  cause  of 
the  Saviour's  enslaved  poor."  A  new  arrangement,  in 
accordance  with  this  suggestion  for  the  support  of 
the  paper  and  the  preservation  of  the  editor  from 
want,  was  made  in  1839,  and  its  performance  taken 


298  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

in  charge  by  a  committee  of  gentlemen,  who  under 
took  to  raise  the  necessary  funds  for  those  objects. 
Thus  it  was  that  Garrison,  through  the  wise  and  gen 
erous  provision  of  friends,  was  enabled  to  augment 
the  happiness  of  an  increasing  family,  and  at  the  same 
time  add  to  his  own  effectiveness  as  an  anti-slavery 
instrument. 

Garrison  found  occasion  soon  after  his  return  from 
the  World's  Convention  for  the  employment  of  all 
his  added  effectiveness  for  continuing  the  moral 
movement  against  slavery.  For  what  with  the  strife 
and  schism  in  the  anti-slavery  ranks,  followed  by  the 
excitements  of  the  long  Presidential  canvass  of  1840, 
wherein  the  great  body  of  the  Abolitionists  developed 
an  uncontrollable  impulse  to  political  action,  some 
through  the  medium  of  the  new  Liberty  party  which 
had  nominated  James  G.  Birney  for  the  Presidency, 
while  others  reverted  to  the  two  old  parties  with 
which  they  had  formerly  acted — what  with  all  these 
causes  the  pure  moral  movement  started  by  Garrison 
was  in  grave  danger  of  getting  abolished  or  at  least 
of  being  reduced  to  a  nullity  in  its  influence  upon 
public  opinion.  John  A.  Collins,  the  able  and  re 
sourceful  general  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  wrote  in  the  deepest  anxiety  to  Gar 
rison  from  New  Bedford,  September  i,  1840,  on  this 
head.  Says  he  :  "I  really  wish  you  understood  per 
fectly  the  exact  position  the  friends  of  the  old  organi 
zation  hold  to  the  two  great  political  parties,  and 
how  generally  they  have  been  caught  up  in  the  whirl 
wind  of  political  enthusiasm.  Could  you  but  go 
where  I  have  been,  and  have  seen  and  heard  what  I 
have  seen  and  heard  ;  could  you  see  men — aye,  and 


RANDOM    SHOTS.  299 

women,  too — who  have  been  and  still  are  your  warm 
est  advocates,  who  have  eschewed  sectarianism,  and 
lost  their  caste  in  the  circle  in  which  they  moved,  for 
their  strong  adherence  to  your  views  and  measures, 
declare  that  they  would  sooner  forego  their  Abolition 
ism  than  their  party.  .  .  .  Now,  these  are  not  the 
views  of  here  and  there  a  straggling  Abolitionist,  but 
of  seven-tenths  of  all  the  voting  Abolitionists  of  the 
State.  .  .  .  They  are  entirely  unconscious  of  the 
demoralizing  influence  of  their  course.  They  need 
light,  warning,  entreaty,  and  rebuke."  Besides  this  de 
moralization  of  the  Abolitionists,  as  described  by  Col 
lins,  the  parent  society  at  New  York  fell  into  bad 
financial  straits.  It  was  absolutely  without  funds, 
and  without  any  means  of  supplying  the  lack.  What 
should  it  do  in  its  extremity  but  appeal  to  the  Massa 
chusetts  Society  which  was  already  heavily  burdened 
by  its  own  load,  the  Liberator.  The  new  organ  of 
the  national  organization,  The  Anti- Slavery  Standard, 
surely  must  not  be  allowed  to  fail  for  want  of  funds 
in  this  emergency.  The  Boston  management  rose  to 
the  occasion.  Collins  was  sent  to  England  in  quest 
of  contributions  from  the  Abolitionists  of  Great 
Britain.  But,  great  as  was  the  need  of  money,  the 
relief  which  it  might  afford  would  only  prove  tem- 
porory  unless  there  could  be  effected  a  thorough  anti- 
slavery  revival.  This  was  vital.  And  therefore 
to  this  end  Garrison  now  bent  his  remarkable 
energies. 

Agents,  during  this  period  when  money  was  scarce, 
were  necessarily  few.  But  the  pioneer  proved  a  host 
in  himself.  Resigning  the  editorial  charge  of  the 
Liberator  into  the  capable  hands  of  Edmund  Quincy, 


300  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Garrison  itinerated  in  the  role  of  an  anti-slavery  lec 
turer  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New  Hamp 
shire,  reviving  everywhere  the  languishing  interest  o: 
his  disciples.  On  the  return  of  Collins  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1841,  revival  meetings  and  conventions  startec 
up  with  increased  activity,  the  fruits  of  which  were  ol 
a  most  cheering  character.  At  Nantucket,  Garrison 
made  a  big  catch  in  his  anti-slavery  net.  It  was 
Frederick  Douglass,  young,  callow,  and  awkward,  but 
with  his  splendid  and  inimitable  gifts  flashing 
through  all  as  he,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  ad 
dressed  an  audience  of  white  people.  Garrison,  with 
the  instinct  of  leadership,  saw  at  once  the  value  of  the 
runaway  slave's  oratorical  possibilities  in  their  rela 
tions  to  the  anti-slavery  movement.  It  was  at  his 
instance  that  Collins  added  Douglass  to  the  band  of 
anti-slavery  agents.  The  new  agent  has  preserved 
his  recollections  of  the  pioneer's  speech  on  that 
eventful  evening  in  Nantucket.  Says  he  :  "  Mr. 
Garrison  followed  me,  taking  me  as  his  text  ;  and 
now,  whether  I  had  made  an  eloquent  plea  in 
behalf  of  freedom  or  not,  his  was  one  never  to  be 
forgotten.  Those  who  had  heard  him  oftenest,  and 
had  known  him  longest,  were  astonished  at  his  mas 
terly  effort.  For  the  time  he  possessed  that  almost 
fabulous  inspiration,  often  referred  to  but  seldom 
attained,  in  which  a  public  meeting  is  transformed, 
as  it  were,  into  a  single  individuality,  the  orator 
swaying  a  thousand  heads  and  hearts  at  once,  and  by 
the  simple  majesty  of  his  all-controlling  thought, 
converting  his  hearers  into  the  express  image  of  his 
own  soul.  That  night  there  were,  at  least,  a  thousand 
Garrisonians  in  Nantucket  !" 


RANDOM    SHOTS.  301 

Here  is  another  picture  of  Garrison  in  the  lecture- 
field.  It  is  from  the  pen  of  N.  P.  Rogers,  with  whom 
he  was  making  a  week's  tour  among  the  White  Moun 
tains,  interspersing  the  same  with  anti-slavery  meet 
ings.  At  Plymouth,  failing  to  procure  the  use  of  a 
church  for  their  purpose,  they  fell  back  upon  the 
temple  not  made  with  hands. 

"  Semi-circular  seats,  backed  against  a  line  of  mag 
nificent  trees  to  accommodate,  we  should  judge,  from 
two  to  three  hundred,"  Rogers  narrates,  "  were  filled, 
principally  with  women,  and  the  men  who  could  not 
find  seats  stood  on  the  green  sward  on  either  hand; 
and,  at  length,  when  wearied  with  standing,  seated 
themselves  on  the  ground.  Garrison,  mounted  on  a 
rude  platform  in  front,  lifted  up  his  voice  and  spoke 
to  them  in  prophet  tones  and  surpassing  eloquence, 
from  half-past  three  till  I  saw  the  rays  of  the  setting 
sun  playing  through  the  trees  on  his  head.  .  . 
They  (the  auditory)  heeded  it  not  any  more  than  he, 
but  remained  till  he  ended,  apparently  indisposed  to 
move,  though  some  came  from  six,  eight,  and  even 
twelve  miles  distance."  So  bravely  prospered  the 
revival  agitation,  under  the  vigorous  preaching  of 
the  indomitable  pioneer. 

In  the  midst  of  the  growing  activities  of  the  revival 
season  of  the  anti-slavery  movement,  Garrison  had 
some  personal  experiences  of  a  distressing  nature. 
One  of  these  was  the  case  of  his  quondam  friend  and 
partner  in  the  publication  of  the  Liberator,  Isaac 
Knapp.  He,  poor  fellow,  was  no  longer  the  publisher 
of  the  paper.  His  wretched  business  management  of 
his  department  tended  to  keep  the  Liberator  in  a  state 
of  chronic  financial  embarrassment.  When  the  com- 


302  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

mittee,  who  assumed  charge  of  the  finances  of  the 
paper,  took  hold  of  the  problem,  they  determined  tc 
let  Knapp  go.  He  was  paid  $150  or  $175  as  a  quid 
pro  quoior  his  interest  in  the  Liberator.  Unfortunate 
in  the  business  of  a  publisher,  he  was  yet  more  unfor 
tunate  in  another  respect.  He  had  become  a  victim 
of  intemperance.  His  inebriety  increased  upon  him, 
accelerated,  no  doubt,  by  his  business  failure.  Not 
withstanding  Garrison's  strong  and  tender  friendship 
for  Knapp,  the  broken  man  came  to  regard  him  as  an 
enemy,  and  showed  in  many  ways  his  jealousy  and 
hatred  of  his  old  friend  and  partner.  Very  painful 
was  this  experience  to  the  pioneer. 

An  experience  which  touched  Garrison  more 
nearly  arose  out  of  the  sad  case  of  his  brother  James, 
who,  the  reader  will  recall,  ran  away  from  his  mother 
in  Baltimore  and  went  to  sea.  He  ultimately  enlisted 
in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  what  with  the  brutal 
ities  which  he  suffered  at  the  hands  of  his  superiors, 
by  way  of  discipline,  and  with  those  of  his  own  uncon 
trolled  passions  and  appetites,  he  was,  when  recovered 
by  his  brother  William,  a  total  moral  and  physical 
wreck.  But  the  prodigal  was  gathered  to  the 
reformer's  heart,  and  taken  to  his  home  where  in 
memory  of  a  mother  long  dead,  whose  darling  was 
James,  he  was  nursed  and  watched  over  with  deep 
and  pious  love.  There  were  sad  lapses  of  the  profli 
gate  man  even  in  the  sanctuary  of  his  brother's  home. 
The  craving  for  liquor  was  omnipotent  in  the  wretched 
creature,  and  he  was  attacked  by  uncontrollable 
desire  for  drink.  But  William's  patience  was  infinite, 
and  his  yearning  and  pity  at  such  times  were  as  sweet 
and  strong  as  a  mother's.  Death  rung  the  curtain  down 


RANDOM    SHOTS.  303 

in  the  fall  of  1842,  on  this  miserable  life  with  its  sorry 
and  pathetic  scenes. 

About  this  time  a  trial  of  a  different  sort  fell  to  the 
lot  of  Garrison  to  endure.  The  tongue  of  detraction 
was  never  more  busy  with  his  alleged  infidel  doc 
trines  or  to  more  damaging  effect.  Collins,  in  Eng 
land,  seeking  to  obtain  contributions  for  the  support 
of  the  agitation  in  America  found  Garrison's  infidel 
ity  the  great  lion  in  the  way  of  success.  Even  the 
good  dispositions  of  the  venerable  Clarkson  were 
affected  by  the  injurious  reports  in  this  regard,  circu 
lated  in  England  mainly  by  Nathaniel  Colver,  a  nar 
row  and  violent  sectary  of  the  Baptist  denomination 
of  the  United  States.  It  was,  of  course,  painful  to 
Garrison  to  feel  that  he  had  become  a  rock  of  offence 
in  the  path  of  the  great  movement,  which  he  had 
started  and  to  which  he  was  devoting  himself  so 
energetically.  To  Elizabeth  Pease,  one  of  the  noblest 
of  the  English  Abolitionists,  and  one  of  his  stanchest 
transatlantic  friends,  he  defended  himself  against  the 
false  and  cruel  statements  touching  his  religious 
beliefs.  "I  esteem  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  he  wrote  her, 
"  above  all  other  books  in  the  universe,  and  always 
appeal  to  '  the  law  and  the  testimony '  to  prove  all  my 
peculiar  doctrines."  His  religious  sentiments  and 
Sabbatical  views  are  almost  if  not  quite  identical  with 
those  held  by  the  Quakers.  "  I  believe  in  an  indwell 
ing  Christ,"  he  goes  on  to  furnish  a  summary  of  his 
confession  of  faith,  "  and  in  His  righteousness  alone  ; 
I  glory  in  nothing  here  below,  save  in  Christ  and  in 
Him  crucified;  I  believe  all  the  works  of  the  devil  are  to 
be  destroyed,  and  Our  Lord  is  to  reign  from  sea  to 
sea,  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  and  I  profess  to 


304  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

have  passed  from  death  unto  life,  and  know  by  happy 
experience,  that  there  is  no  condemnation  to  them 
who  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh, 
but  after  the  spirit."  These  were  the  pioneer's  articles 
of  faith.  Their  extreme  simplicity  and  theologi 
cal  conservatism  it  would  seem  ought  to  have  satisfied 
the  evangelicals  of  all  denominations.  They  were  in 
essentials  thoroughly  orthodox.  But  in  the  compo 
sition  of  the  shibboleths  of  beliefs  non-essentials  as 
well  as  essentials  enter,  the  former  to  the  latter  in  the 
proportion  of  two  to  one.  It  is  not  surprising,  there 
fore,  that  Garrison's  essentials  proved  unequal  to  the 
test  set  up  by  sectarianism,  inasmuch  as  his  spiritual 
life  dropped  the  aspirate  of  the  non-essentials  of  re 
ligious  forms  and  observances. 

But  the  good  man  had  his  compensation  as  well  as 
his  trials.  Such  of  a  very  noble  kind  was  the  great 
Irish  address  brought  over  from  Ireland  by  Remond 
in  December  1841.  It  was  signed  by  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell,  Father  Mathew,  and  sixty  thousand  Roman 
Catholics  of  Ireland,  Avho  called  upon  the  Irish 
Roman  Catholics  of  America  to  make  the  cause  of  the 
slaves  of  the  United  States  their  cause.  Large  ex 
pectations  of  Irish  assistance  in  the  anti-slavery  agi 
tation  were  excited  in  the  bosoms  of  Abolitionists  by 
this  imposing  appeal.  Garrison  shared  the  high  hopes 
of  its  beneficent  influence  upon  the  Ireland  of  America, 
with  many  others.  Alas  !  for  the  "  best  laid  schemes 
of  mice  and  men,"  for  the  new  Ireland  was  not  popu 
lated  with  saints,  but  a  fiercely  human  race  who  had 
come  to  their  new  home  to  better  their  own  con 
dition,  not  that  of  the  negro.  Hardly  had  they 
touched  these  shores  before  they  were  Americanized 


RANDOM    SHOTS.  305 

in  the  colorphobia  sense,  out-Heroded  Herod  in 
hatred  of  the  colored  people  and  their  anti-slavery 
friends.  Indeed,  it  was  quite  one  thing  to  preach  Abo 
litionism  with  three  thousand  miles  of  sea-wall  between 
one  and  his  audience,  and  quite  another  to  rise  and  do 
the  preaching  with  no  sea-wall  to  guard  the  preacher 
from  the  popular  consequences  of  his  preaching,  as 
Father  Mathew  quickly  perceived  and  reduced  to 
practice  eight  years  later,  when  he  made  his  memorable 
visit  to  this  country.  In  vain  was  the  monster  docu 
ment  unrolled  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  many  Abolition 
ists  with  Irish  blood  were  put  forward  to  sweep  the 
chords  of  Erin's  heart,  and  to  conjure  by  their  elo 
quence  the  disciples  of  St.  Patrick  to  rally  under  the 
banner  of  freedom.  There  was  no  response,  except 
the  response  of  bitter  foes.  Erin's  harp  vibrated  to 
no  breeze  which  did  not  come  out  of  the  South.  The 
slave-power  had  been  erected  into  patron  saint  by 
the  new  Ireland  in  America,  and  the  new  Ireland  in 
America  was  very  well  content  with  his  saintship's  pa 
tronage  and  service.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  great 
expectations,  which  were  excited  by  the  Irish  address, 
were  never  realized.  But  the  pioneer  had  other  fish 
in  his  net,  had,  in  fact,  meanwhile,  got  himself  in 
readiness  for  a  launch  into  a  new  and  startling  agita 
tion.  As  to  just  what  this  new  and  startling  agita 
tion  was  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE     PIONEER     MAKES     A     NEW      AND      STARTLING 
DEPARTURE. 

WHEN  Garrison  hoisted  the  banner  of  immediate 
emancipation  he  was  over-confident  of  success 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  church.  It  did 
not  enter  his  heart  to  conceive  that  after  he  had  de 
livered  his  message  touching  the  barbarism  of  slavery 
that  a  church  calling  itself  Christian,  or  that  a  min 
istry  arrogating  to  itself  the  character  of  the  Christ, 
could  possibly  say  him  nay.  But  he  learned  sadly 
enough  the  utter  folly  of  such  expectations.  For 
from  pew  and  pulpit  the  first  stones  were  hurled 
against  him,  and  the  most  cruel  and  persistent  oppo 
sition  and  persecution  issued.  Then  as  the  move 
ment  which  he  had  started  advanced,  he  saw  how  it 
was,  why  the  church  had  played  him  false  and  the 
cause  of  freedom.  It  was  because  the  poison  of  slav 
ery  which  the  evil  one  had  injected  into  the  nation's 
arteries  had  corrupted  the  springs  of  justice  and 
mercy  in  that  body.  The  Church  was  not  free,  it,  too, 
was  in  bonds  to  slavery,  how  then  could  it  help  to 
free  the  slaves  ?  That  was  the  reason  that  pulpit  and 
pew  cried  out  against  him  and  persecuted  him.  It 
was  not  they  but  the  slave  despotism,  which  ruled 
them,  which  wrought  its  fell  purpose  within  them. 

(306) 


THE    PIONEER    MAKES    A    NEW    DEPARTURE.  307 

If  the  reformer  cast  his  eyes  about  him  for  other 
help  it  was  the  same;  the  slime  of  the  serpent  was 
upon  State  as  well  as  Church.  Both  of  the  two  great 
political  parties  were  bound  hands  and  feet,  and  given 
over  to  the  will  of  the  slave  tyranny.  In  all  depart 
ments  of  Government,  State  and  National,  the  posi 
tive,  all-powerful  principle  was  slavery.  Its  dread 
nolo  me  tangere  had  forced  Congress  into  the  denial  of 
the  right  of  petition,  and  into  the  imposition  of  a  gag 
upon  its  own  freedom  of  debate.  It  was  the  grand 
President-maker,  and  the  judiciary  bent  without  a 
blush  to  do  its  service.  What,  then,  in  these  circum 
stances  could  the  friends  of  freedom  hope  to  achieve? 
The  nation  had  been  caught  in  the  snare  of  slavery, 
and  was  in  Church  and  State  helpless  in  the  vast 
spider-like  web  of  wrong.  The  more  the  reformer 
pondered  the  problem,  the  more  hopeless  did  success 
look  under  a  Constitution  which  united  right  and 
wrong,  freedom  and  slavery.  As  his  reflections  deep 
ened,  the  conviction  forced  its  way  into  his  mind  that 
the  Union  was  the  strong  tower  of  the  slave-power, 
which  could  never  be  destroyed  until  the  fortress 
which  protected  it  was  first  utterly  demolished.  In 
the  spring  of  1842  the  pioneer  was  prepared  to  strike 
into  this  new  path  to  effect  his  purpose. 

"  We  must  dissolve  all  connection  with  those  mur 
derers  of  fathers,"  he  wrote  his  brother-in-law,  "  and 
murderers  of  mothers,  and  murderers  of  liberty,  and 
traffickers  of  human  flesh,  and  blasphemers  against 
the  Almighty  at  the  South.  What  have  we  in  com 
mon  with  them?  What  have  we  gained  ?  What  have  we 
not  lost  by  our  alliance  with  them  ?  Are  not  their  prin 
ciples,  their  pursuits,  their  policies,  their  interests, 


308  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

their  designs,  their  feelings,  utterly  diverse  from  ours  ? 
Why,  then,  be  subject  to  their  dominion  ?  Why  not 
have  the  Union  dissolved  in  form  as  it  is  in  fact,  es 
pecially  if  the  form  gives  ample  protection  to  the 
slave  system,  by  securing  for  it  all  the  physical  force 
of  the  North  ?  It  is  not  treason  against  the  cause  of 
liberty  to  cry,  "  Down  with  every  slave-holding 
Union  !"  Therefore,  I  raise  that  cry.  And  O  that  I 
had  a  voice  louder  than  a  thousand  thunders,  that  it 
might  shake  the  land  and  electrify  the  dead — the 
dead  in  sin,  I  mean — those  slain  by  the  hand  of 
slavery." 

A  few  weeks  later  the  first  peal  of  this  thunder 
broke  upon  the  startled  ears  of  the  country  through 
the  columns  of  the  Liberator.  The  May  meeting  of 
the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  was  drawing  near, 
and  the  reformer,  now  entirely  ready  to  enter  upon 
an  agitation  looking  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Union, 
suggested  "  the  duty  of  making  the  REPEAL  OF 
THE  UNION  between  the  North  and  the  South  the 
grand  rallying  point  until  it  be  accomplished,  or 
slavery  cease  to  pollute  our  soil.  We  are  for  throwing 
all  the  means,  energies,  actions,  purposes,  and  appli 
ances  of  the  genuine  friends  of  liberty  and  republi 
canism  into  this  one  channel,"  he  goes  on  to  announce, 
"and  for  measuring  the  humanity,  patriotism,  and 
piety  of  every  man  by  this  one  standard.  This  ques 
tion  can  no  longer  be  avoided,  and  a  right  decision 
of  it  will  settle  the  controversy  between  freedom  and 
slavery.'  The  stern  message  of  Isaiah  to  the  Jews, 
beginning,  "  Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord,  ye  scornful 
men  that  rule  this  people.  Because  ye  have  said,  We 
have  made  a  covenant  with  DEATH  and  with  HELL  are 


THE    PIONEER    MAKES    A    NEW    DEPARTURE.  309 

we  at  agreement,"  seemed  to  the  American  Isaiah  to 
describe  exactly  the  character  of  the  National  Consti 
tution.  "  Slavery  is  a  combination  of  DEATH  and 
HELL,"  he  declares,  with  righteous  wrath,  "  and  with 
it  the  North  have  made  a  covenant,  and  are  at  agree 
ment.  As  an  element  of  the  Government  it  is  omni 
potent,  omniscient,  omnipresent.  As  a  component 
part  of  the  Union,  it  is  necessarily  a  national  interest. 
Divorced  from  Northern  protection,  it  dies ;  with 
that  protection  it  enlarges  its  boundaries,  multiplies 
its  victims,  and  extends  its  ravages." 

The  announcement  of  this  new  radicalism  caused  a 
sensation.  Many  genuine  Garrisonian  Abolitionists 
recoiled  from  a  policy  of  disunion.  Lydia  Maria 
Child  and  James  S.  Gibbon  of  the  Executive  Com 
mittee  of  the  National  Society  hastened  to  disavow  for 
the  society  all  responsibility  for  the  disunion  senti 
ment  of  the  editor  of  the  Liberator.  His  new  depart 
ure  seemed  to  them  "  foreign  to  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  organized."  Like  all  new  ideas,  it  was  a  sword- 
bearer,  and  proved  a  decided  disturber  of  the  peace. 
The  Union-loving  portion  of  the  free  States  had  never 
taken  to  the  Abolition  movement,  for  the  reason  that 
it  tended  to  disturb  the  stability  of  their  idol.  But 
now  the  popular  hatred  of  Abolitionism  was  intensi 
fied  by  the  avowal  of  a  distinct  purpose  on  the  part 
of  its  leader  to  labor  for  the  separation  of  the  sec 
tions.  The  press  of  the  North  made  the  most  of  this 
design  to  render  altogether  odious  the  small  band  of 
moral  reformers,  to  reduce  to  a  nullity  their  influ 
ence  upon  public  opinion. 

Notwithstanding  its  rejection  by  James  Gibbons 
and  Lydia  Maria  Child  the  new  idea  of  the  dissolu- 


3IO  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

tion  of  the  Union,  as  an  anti-slavery  object,  found  in 
stant  favor  with  many  of  the  leading  Abolitionists, 
like  Wendell  Phillips,  Edmund  Quincy,  Parker  Pills- 
bury,  Stephen  S.  Foster  and  Abby  Kelley.  At  the 
anniversary  meeting  of  the  American  Society  in  1842, 
the  subject  was  mooted,  and,  although  there  was  no 
official  action  taken,  yet  it  was  apparent  that  a  ma 
jority  of  the  delegates  were  favorable  to  its  adoption 
as  the  sentiment  of  the  society. 

The  ultimate  object  of  Garrison  was  the  abolition 
of  slavery.  Disunion  led  directly  to  this  goal,  there 
fore  he  planted  his  feet  in  that  way.  But  while  he 
shot  the  agitation  at  a  distant  mark,  he  did  not  mean 
to  miss  less  remote  results.  There  was  remarkable 
method  in  his  madness.  He  agitated  the  question 
of  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  "  in  order  that  the 
people  of  the  North  might  be  induced  to  reflect  upon 
their  debasement,  guilt,  and  danger  in  continuing  in 
partnership  with  heaven-daring  oppressors,  and  thus 
be  led  to  repentance." 

The  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society  at  its 
annual  meeting  in  January,  1843  "dissolved  the 
Union,"  wrote  Quincy  to  R.  D.  Webb,  "  by  a  hand 
some  vote,  after  a  warm  debate.  The  question  was 
afterward  reconsidered  and  passed  in  another  shape, 
being  wrapped  up  by  Garrison  in  some  of  his  favorite 
Old  Testament  Hebraisms  by  way  of  vehicle,  as  the 
apothecaries  say. "  This  is  the  final  shape  which 
Garrison's  "  favorite  Old  Testament  Hebraisms " 
gave  to  the  action  of  the  society  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  compact  which  exists  between 
the  North  and  the  South  is  a  covenant  with  death 
and  an  agreement  with  hell — involving  both  parties 


THE    PIONEER    MAKES    A    NEW    DEPARTURE.  311 

in  atrocious  criminality — and  should  be  immediately 
annulled." 

At  its  tenth  anniversary,  in  1844,  the  Ameri 
can  Society  resolved  likewise  chat  there  should 
be  no  Union  with  slaveholders  ;  and  in  May  of  the 
same  year  the  New  England  Society  voted  by  a  large 
majority  to  dissolve  the  *  covenant  with  death,  and  the 
agreement  with  hell.'  Almost  the  whole  number  of 
the  Garrisonian  Abolitionists  had  by  this  time  placed 
upon  their  banner  of  immediate  emancipation  the 
revolutionary  legend  "No  Union  with  slaveholders." 
Cathago  est  delenda  were  now  ever  on  the  lips  of  the 
pioneer.  '  The  Union  it  must  and  shall  be  destroyed' 
became  the  beginning,  the  middle,  and  the  end  of  all 
his  utterances  on  the  slavery  question. 

The  attitude  of  the  anti-slavery  disunionists  to  the 
Government  which  they  were  seeking  to  overthrow 
was  clearly  stated  by  Francis  Jackson  in  a  letter  re 
turning  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  his  com 
mission  as  a  justice  of  the  peace.  Says  he,  "To  me 
it  appears  that  the  vices  of  slavery,  introduced  into  the 
constitution  of  our  body  politic  by  a  few  slight 
punctures,  has  now  so  pervaded  and  poisoned  the 
whole  system  of  our  National  Government  that  liter 
ally  there  is  no  health  in  it.  The  only  remedy  that 
I  can  see  for  the  disease  is  to  be  found  in  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  patient.  .  .  .  Henceforth  it  (the  Con 
stitution)  is  dead  to  me,  and  I  to  it.  I  withdraw  all 
profession  of  allegiance  to  it,  and  all  my  voluntary 
efforts  to  sustain  it.  The  burdens  that  it  lays  upon 
me,  while  it  is  held  up  by  others,  I  shall  endeavor  to 
bear  patiently,  yet  acting  with  reference  to  a  higher 
law,  and  distinctly  declaring  that,  while  I  retain  my 


312  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

own  liberty,  I  will  be  a  party   to  no  compact  which 
helps  to  rob  any  other  man  of  his." 

The  Abolition  agitation  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union  was  assisted  not  a  little  by  sundry  occur 
rences  of  national  importance.  The  increasing  arro 
gance  and  violence  of  the  South  in  Congress  on  all 
matters  relating  to  the  subject  of  slavery  was  one  of 
these  occurrences.  Freedom  of  debate  and  the  right 
of  petition,  Southern  intolerance  had  rendered  well 
nigh  worthless  in  the  National  Legislature.  In  this 
way  the  North,  during  several  months  in  every  year, 
was  forced  to  look  at  the  reverse  and  the  obverse 
faces  of  the  Union.  These  object-lessons  taught 
many  minds,  no  doubt,  to  count  the  cost  which  the 
preservation  of  the  Union  entailed  upon  the  free 
States — "  to  reflect  upon  their  debasement,  guilt,  and 
danger"  in  their  partnership  with  slaveholders.  An 
other  circumstance  which  induced  to  this  kind  of  re 
flection  was  the  case  of  George  Latimer,  who  was 
seized  as  a  fugitive  slave  in  Boston  in  the  autumn  of 
1842.  From  beginning  to  end  the  Latimer  case  re 
vealed  how  completely  had  Massachusetts  tied  her 
own  hands  as  a  party  to  the  original  compact  with 
slavery  whose  will  was  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  In 
obedience  to  this  supreme  law  Chief-Justice  Shaw  re 
fused  to  the  captive  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and 
Judge  Story  granted  the  owner  possession  of  the 
fugitive,  and  time  to  procure  evidence  of  his  owner 
ship.  But  worse  still  Massachusetts  officials  and  one 
of  her  jails  were  employed  to  aid  in  the  return  of  a 
man  to  slavery.  This  degradation  aroused  the  great 
est  indignation  in  the  State  and  led  to  the  enactment 
of  a  law  prohibiting  its  officials  from  taking  part  in 


THE    PIONEER    MAKES    A    NEW    DEPARTURE.  313 

the  return  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  the  use  of  its  jails 
and  prisons  for  their  detention.  The  passage  of 
this  personal  liberty  measure  served  to  increase  the 
activity  of  the  anti-Union  working  forces  in  the 
South 

Then,  again,  the  serious  difficulty  between  Massa 
chusetts  and  two  of  the  slave  States  in  regard  to  their 
treatment  of  her  colored  seamen  aided  Garrison  in 
his  agitation  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  by  the 
keen  sense  of  insult  and  injury  which  the  trouble 
begat  and  left  upon  the  popular  mind.  Colored  men 
in  Massachusetts  enjoyed  a  fair  degree  of  equality 
before  her  laws,  were  endowed  with  the  right  to  vote, 
and  were,  barring  the  prejudice  against  color,  treated 
by  the  commonwealth  as  citizens.  They  were 
employed  in  the  merchant  service  of  her  interstate 
trade.  But  at  two  of  the  Southern  ports  where  her 
vessels  entered,  the  colored  seamen  were  seized  by  the 
local  police  and  confined  in  houses  of  detention  until 
the  vessels  to  which  they  belonged  were  ready  to 
depart,  when  they  were  released  and  allowed  to  join 
the  vessels.  This  was  a  most  outrageous  proceeding, 
outrageous  to  the  colored  men  who  were  thus  deprived 
of  their  liberty,  outrageous  also  to  the  owners  of  the 
vessels  who  were  deprived  of  the  service  of  their 
employes.  Of  what  avail  was  the  constitutional  guar 
anty  that  "the  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be 
entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens 
in  the  several  States,  many  men  began  to  question  ? 
The  South  was  evidently  disposed  to  support  only  that 
portion  of  the  national  compact  which  sustained  the 
slave  system,  all  the  rest  upon  occasion  it  trampled 
on  and  nullified.  This  lesson  was  enforced  anew  upon 


314  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Massachusetts  by  the  affair  of  her  colored  seamen. 
Unable  to  obtain  redress  of  the  wrong  done  her  citi 
zens,  the  State  appointed  agents  to  go  to  Charleston 
and  New  Orleans  and  test  the  constitutionality  of  the 
State  laws  under  which  the  local  authorities  had 
acted.  But  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana,  especially 
the  former,  to  whom  Samuel  Hoar  was  accredited, 
evinced  themselves  quite  equal  to  the  exigency  to 
which  the  presence  of  the  Massachusetts  agents  gave 
rise.  To  cut  a  long  story  short,  these  gentlemen, 
honored  citizens  of  a  sister  State,  and  covered  with 
the  aegis  of  the  Constitution,  found  that  they  could 
make  no  success  of  the  business  which  they  had  in 
hand,  found  indeed  that  as  soon  as  that  business  was 
made  public  that  they  stood  in  imminent  peril  of 
their  lives.  Whereupon,  wisely  conceiving  discretion 
to  be  the  better  part  of  valor,  they  beat  a  hasty 
retreat  back  to  their  native  air.  The  Massachusetts 
agents  were  driven  out  of  Charleston  and  New 
Orleans.  Where  was  the  sacred  and  glorious  union 
between  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina  and  Louis 
iana  that  such  things  were  possible — were  constantly 
occurring  ?  The  circumstance  made  a  strong  impres 
sion  on  the  State  whose  rights  were  thus  grossly  vio 
lated.  It  helped  to  convert  Massachusetts  to  its  later 
opposition  to  slavery,  and  to  make  its  public  senti 
ment  more  tolerant  of  the  Garrisonian  opposition  to 
the  covenant  with  death  and  the  agreement  with  hell. 
To  the  agitation  growing  out  of  the  scheme  for  the 
annexation  of  Texas  must,  however,  be  ascribed  the 
premium  among  all  the  anti-Union  working  facts  and 
forces  of  the  first  few  years  after  Garrison  and  his 
coadjutors  had  raised  the  cry  of  "No  union  with 


THE    PIONEER    MAKES    A    NEW    DEPARTURE.  315 

slaveholders."  This  agitation  renewed  the  intensity 
and  sectionalism  of  the  then  almost  forgotten  strug 
gle  over  the  admission  of  Missouri  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  before,  and  which  was  concluded  by  the 
Missouri  compromise.  This  settlement  was  at  the 
time  considered  quite  satisfactory  to  the  South.  But 
Calhoun  took  an  altogether  different  view  of  the  mat 
ter  twenty  years  later.  The  arrangement  by  which 
the  South  was  excluded  from  the  upper  portion  of 
the  Louisiana  Territory  he  came  to  regard  as  a  cardi 
nal  blunder  on  the  part  of  his  section.  The  fact  is  that 
within  those  two  decades  the  slave-holding  had  been 
completely  outstripped  by  the  non-slave-holding 
States  in  wealth,  population,  and  social  growth.  The 
latter  had  obtained  over  the  former  States  an  indis 
putable  supremacy  in  those  respects.  Would  not  the 
political  balance  settle  also  in  the  natural  order  of 
things  in  the  Northern  half  of  the  Union  unless  it 
could  be  kept  where  it  then  was  to  the  south  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line  by  an  artificial  political 
make-weight.  This  artificial  political  make-weight 
was  nothing  less  than  the  acquisition  of  new  slave 
territory  to  supply  the  demand  for  new  slave  States. 
Texas,  with  the  territorial  dimensions  of  an  empire, 
answered  the  agrarian  needs  of  the  slave  system.  And 
the  South,  under  the  leadership  of  Calhoun,  deter 
mined  to  make  good  their  fancied  loss  in  the  settle 
ment  of  the  Missouri  controversy  by  annexing  Texas. 
But  all  the  smouldering  dread  of  slave  domination, 
all  the  passionate  opposition  to  the  extension  of 
slavery,  to  the  acquisition  of  new  slave  territory  and 
the  admission  of  new  slave  States,  awoke  hotly  in 
the  heart  of  the  North.  "  No  more  slave  territory." 


316  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

"  No  more  slave  States,"  resounded  during  this 
crisis,  through  the  free  States.  "Texas  or  dis 
union,"  was  the  counter  cry  which  reverberated 
through  the  slave  States.  Even  Dr.  Channing,  who 
had  no  love  for  Garrison  or  his  anti-slavery  ultraism, 
was  so  wrought  upon  by  the  scheme  for  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas  as  to  profess  his  preference  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  "  rather  than  receive  Texas 
into  the  Confederacy."  "This  measure,  besides  en 
tailing  on  us  evils  of  all  sorts,"  the  doctor  boldly 
pointed  out,  "  would  have  for  its  chief  end  to  bring 
the  whole  country  under  the  slave-power,  to  make 
the  general  Government  the  agent  of  slavery  ;  and 
this  we  are  bound  to  resist  at  all  hazards.  The  free 
States  should  declare  that  the  very  act  of  admitting 
Texas  will  be  construed  as  a  dissolution  of  the  Union." 

The  Northern  blood  was  at  fever  heat,  and  an 
unwonted  defiance  of  consequences,  a  fierce  contempt 
of  ancient  political  bugaboos  marked  the  utterances 
of  men  erstwhile  timid  of  speech  upon  all  questions 
relating  to  slavery.  In  the  anti-Texas  conven 
tion  held  in  Faneuil  Hall  January  29,  1845,  a^  tn's 
timidity  disappeared  in  the  presence  of  the  new  peril. 
It  was  not  a  convention  of  Abolitionists,  although  Gar 
rison  was  a  member,  but  of  politicians,  mostly  of  the 
Whig  party.  "  The  anti-slavery  spirit  of  the  conven 
tion,"  wrote  Edmund  Quincy  to  R.  D.  Webb,  "  was 
surprising.  The  address  and  the  speeches  of  the 
gentlemen,  not  Abolitionists,  were  such  as  caused 
Garrison  to  be  mobbed  ten  years  ago,  and  such  as 
we  thought  thorough  three  or  four  years  ago.  There 
were  no  qualifications,  or  excuses,  or  twaddle." 

Garrison  flung  himself  into  the  anti-Texas   move- 


THE    PIONEER    MAKES    A    NEW    DEPARTURE.  317 

ment  with  all  his  customary  force  and  fire.  Elected 
a  delegate  to  the  Faneuil  Hall  Convention  by  the  influ 
ence  of  Francis  Jackson,  he  took  a  leading  part  in  its 
proceedings,  "  created  the  most  stir  in  the  whole  mat 
ter,"  Wendell  Phillips  thought.  Charles  Sumner, 
who  heard  him  speak  for  the  first  time,  was  struck 
with  his  "  natural  eloquence,"  and  described  his 
words  as  falling  "  in  fiery  rain."  Again  at  a  mass  meet 
ing  for  Middlesex  County,  held  at  Concord,  to  consider 
the  aggressions  of  the  slave-power,  did  the  words  of 
the  pioneer  fall  "  in  fiery  rain."  Apprehensive  that  the 
performance  of  Massachusetts,  when  the  emergency 
arose,  would  fall  far  short  of  her  protestations,  he 
exclaimed,  "  I  have  nothing  to  say,  sir,  nothing.  I 
am  tired  of  words,  tired  of  hearing  strong  things 
said,  where  there  is  no  heart  to  carry  them  out. 
When  we  are  prepared  to  state  the  whole  truth,  and 
die  for  it,  if  necessary — when,  like  our  fathers,  we  are 
prepared  to  take  our  ground,  and  not  shrink  from  it, 
counting  not  our  lives  dear  unto  us — when  we  are 
prepared  to  let  all  earthly  hopes  go  back  to  the 
board — then  let  us  say  so  ;  ////  then,  the  less  we  say 
the  better,  in  such  an  emergency  as  this.  '  But  who 
are  we,  will  men  ask.'  that  talk  of  such  things  ?  'Are 
we  enough  to  make  a  revolution  ? '  No,  sir  ;  but  we 
are  enough  to  begin  one,  and,  once  begun,  it  never 
can  be  turned  back.  I  am  for  revolution  were  I 
utterly  alone.  I  am  there  because  I  must  be  there. 
I  must  cleave  to  the  right.  I  cannot  choose  but  obey 
the  voice  of  God. 

" .  .  .  Do  not  tell  me  of  our  past  Union,  and  for 
how  many  years  we  have  been  one.  We  were  only 
one  while  we  were  ready  to  hunt,  shoot  down,  and 


318  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

deliver  up  the  slave,  and  allow  the  slave-power  to 
form  an  oligarchy  on  the  floor  of  Congress  !  The 
moment  we  say  no  to  this,  the  Union  ceases — the 
Government  falls." 

The  Texan  struggle  terminated  in  the  usual  way, 
in  the  triumph  of  the  slave-power.  Texas  was 
annexed  and  admitted  into  the  sisterhood  of  States, 
giving  to  the  Southern  section  increased  slave  repre 
sentation  in  both  branches  of  Congress,  and  thereby 
aiding  to  fasten,  what  at  the  moment  appeared  to  be 
its  permanent  domination  in  national  affairs.  As 
Garrison  had  apprehended,  the  performance  of  the 
North  fell  far  short  of  its  protestations  when  the 
crisis  came.  It  swallowed  all  its  brave  words,  and 
collapsed  into  feeble  and  disheartened  submission  to 
its  jubilant  and  hitherto  invincible  antagonist.  The 
whole  North  except  the  small  and  irrepressible  band 
of  Garrisonian  Abolitionists  were  cast  down  by  the 
revulsive  wave  of  this  disastrous  event.  Writing  to 
his  friend  Webb,  Garrison  discourses  thus  upon  the 
great  defeat  :  "  Apparently  the  slave-holding  power 
,  has  never  been  so  strong,  has  never  seemed  to  be  so 
invincible,  has  never  held  such  complete  mastery  over 
the  whole,  has  never  so  sucessfully  hurled  defiance  at 
the  Eternal  and  Just  One,  as  at  the  present  time  ;  and 
yet  never  has  it  in  reality  been  so  weak,  never  has  it 
had  so  many  uncompromising  assailants,  never  has  it 
been  so  filled  with  doubt  and  consternation,  never 
has  it  been  so  near  its  downfall,  as  at  this  moment. 
Upon  the  face  of  it,  this  statement  looks  absurdly 
paradoxical  ;  but  it  is  true,  nevertheless.  We  are 
groping  in  thick  darkness  ;  but  it  is  that  darkest 
hour  which  is  said  to  precede  the  dawn  of  day." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

AS    IN    A    LOOKING    GLASS. 

GARRISON  was  the  most  dogmatic,  as  he  was  the 
most  earnest  of  men.  'It  was  almost  next  to  impos 
sible  for  him  to  understand  that  his  way  was  not  the 
only  way  to  attain  a  given  end/  A  position  reached 
by  him,  he  was  curiously  apt  to  look  upon  as  a  sort 
of  ultima  thule  of  human  endeavor  in  that  direction  of 
the  moral  universe.  And,  notwithstanding  instances 
of  honest  self-depreciation,  there,  nevertheless,  hung 
around  his  personality  an  air  and  assumption  of 
moral  infallibility,  as  a  reformer.  His  was  not  a 
tolerant  mind.  Differences  with  him  he  was  prone  to 
treat  as  gross  departures  from  principle,  as  evidences 
of  faithlessness  to  freedom.  He  fell  upon  the  men 
who  did  not  see  eye  to  eye  with  him  with  tomahawk 
and  scalping  knife.  He  was  strangely  deficient  in  a 
sense  of  proportion  in  such  matters.  His  terrible 
severities  of  speech,  he  visited  upon  the  slave-power 
and  the  Liberty  party  alike.  And  although  a  non- 
resistent,  in  that  he  eschewed  the  use  of  physical 
force,  yet  there  never  was  born  among  the  sons  of 
men  a  more  militant  soul  in  the  use  of  moral  force, 
in  the  quickness  with  which  he  would  whip  out  the 
rapiers,  or  hurl  the  bolts  and  bombs  of  his  mother 
tongue  at  opponents.  ''The  pioneer  must  have  been 
an  unconscious  believer  in  the  annihilation  of  the 

(319) 


320  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

wicked,  as  he  must  have  been  an  unconscious  believer 
in  the  wickedness  of  all  opposition  to  his  idea  of 
right  and  duty.  This,  of  course,  must  be  taken  only 
as  a  broad  description  of  the  reformer's  character. 
He  was  a  man,  one  of  the  grandest  America  has 
given  to  the  world,  but  still  a  man  with  his  tendon  of 
Achilles,  like  the  rest  of  his  kind. 

His  narrow  intolerance  of  the  idea  of  anti-slavery 
political  action,  and  his  fierce  and  unjust  censure  of 
the  champions  of  that  idea,  well  illustrate  the  trait  in 
point.  Birney  and  Whittier,  and  Wright  and  Gerrit 
Smith,  and  Joshua  Leavitt,  he  apparently  quite  forgot, 
were  actuated  by  motives  singularly  noble,  were  in 
their  way  as  true  to  their  convictions  as  he  was  to  his. 
No,  there  was  but  one  right  way,  and  in  that  way 
stood  the  feet  of  the  pioneer.  His  way  led  directly, 
unerringly,  to  the  land  of  freedom.  All  other  ways, 
and  especially  the  Liberty  party  way,  twisted,  doubled 
upon  themselves,  branched  into  labyrinths  of  folly 
and  self-seeking.  "  Ho  !  all  ye  that  desire  the  free 
dom  of  the  slave,  who  would  labor  for  liberty,  follow 
me  and  I  will  show  you  the  only  true  way,"  was  the 
tone  which  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  held  to  men, 
who  were  battering  with  might  and  main  to  breach 
the  walls  of  the  Southern  Bastile.  They  were  plainly 
not  against  the  slave,  althpugh  opposed  to  Mr.  Garri 
son,  narrowly,  unjustly  opposed  to  him,  without 
doubt,  but  working  strenuously  according  to  their 
lights  for  the  destruction  of  a  common  enemy  and 
tyrant.  This  was  the  test,  which  Garrison  should 
have  taken  as  conclusive.  The  leaders  of  the  Liberty 
party,  though  personally  opposed  to  him  and  to  his 
line  of  action,  were,  nevertheless,  friends  of  the  slaves, 


AS   IN   A   LOOKING    GLASS.  32! 

and  ought  to  have  been  so  accounted  and  treated  by 
the  man  who  more  than  any  other  was  devoted  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery. 

But  the  whole  mental  and  moral  frame  of  the  man 
precluded  such  liberality  of  treatment  of  opponents 
They  had  rejected  his  way,  which  was  the  only  true 
way,  and  were,  therefore,  anathema  maranatha.  When 
a  moral  idea  which  has  been  the  subject  of  wide 
spread  agitation,  and  has  thereby  gained  a  numerous 
following,  reaches  out,  as  reach  out  it  must,  sooner  or 
later,  for  incorporation  into  law,  it  will,  in  a  republic 
like  ours,  do  so  naturally  and  necessarily  through 
political  action — along  the  lines  of  an  organized  party 
movement.  The  Liberty  party  formation  was  the 
product  of  this  strong  tendency  in  America.  Prema 
ture  it  possibly  was,  but  none  the  less  perfectly  n 
ural.  Now  every  political  party,  that  is  worthy  of 
the  name,  is  a  compound  rather  than  a  simple  fact, 
consisteth  of  a  bundle  of  ideas  rather  than  a  single 
idea.  Parties  depend  upon  the  people  for  success, 
upon  the  people  not  of  one  interest  but  of  many 
interests  and  of  diversities  of  views  upon  public  ques 
tions.  One  plank  is  not  broad  enough  to  accommo 
date  their  differences  and  multiplicity  of  desires. 
There  must  be  a  platform  built  of  many  planks  to 
support  the  number  of  votes  requisite  to  victory  at 
the  polls.  There  will  always  be  one  idea  or  interest 
of  the  many  ideas  or  interests,  that  will  dominate  the 
organization,  be  erected  into  a  paramount  issue  upon 
which  the  party  throws  itself  upon  the  country,  but 
the  secondary  ideas  or  interests  must  be  there  all  the 
same  to  give  strength  and  support  to  the  main  idea 
and  interest. 


322  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Besides  this  peculiarity  in  the  composition  of  thf5 
great  political  parties  in  America,  there  is  another  no': 
less  distinct  and  marked,  and  that  is  the  Constitu 
tional  limitations  of  the  Federal  political  power, 
Every  party  which  looks  for  ultimate  success  at  the 
polls  must  observe  strictly  these  limitations  in  its  aims 
and  issues.  Accordingly  when  the  moral  movement 
against  slavery  sought  a  political  expression  of  the 
idea  of  Abolition  it  was  constrained  within  the  metes 
and  bounds  set  up  by  the  National  Constitution. 
Slavery  within  the  States  lay  outside  of  the  political 
boundaries  of  the  general  Government.  Slavery  within 
the  States,  therefore,  the  more  sagacious  of  the  Lib 
erty  party  leaders  placed  not  among  its  bundle  of 
ideas,  into  its  platform  of  national  issues.  But  it  was 
otherwise  with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in 
the  national  territories,  under  the  national  flagon  the 
high  seas,  for  it  lay  within  the  constitutional  reach  of 
the  federal  political  power,  and  its  abolition  was 
demanded  in  the  Third  party  platform.  These 
leaders  were  confident  that  the  existence  of  slavery 
depended  upon  its  connection  with  the  National  Gov 
ernment.  Their  aim  was  to  destroy  the  evil  by  cut 
ting  this  connection  through  which  it  drew  its  blood 
and  nerve  supplies.  They  planted  themselves  upon 
the  anti-slavery  character  of  the  Constitution,  believ 
ing  that  it  "  does  not  sanction  nor  nationalize  slavery 
but  condemns  and  localizes  it." 

This  last  position  of  the  Liberty  party  leaders 
struck  Garrison  as  a  kind  of  mental  and  moral 
enormity.  At  it  and  its  authors,  the  anti-slavery 
Jupiter,  launched  his  bolts,  fast  and  furious.  Here 
is  a  specimen  of  his  chain  lightning :  "  We  have 


AS    IN   A    LOOKING    GLASS.  323 

a  very  poor  opinion  of  the  intelligence  of  any 
man,  and  very  great  distrust  of  his  candor  or 
honesty,  who  tries  to  make  it  appear  that  no  pro- 
slavery  compromise  was  made  between  the  North  and 
the  South,  at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  We 
cherish  feelings  of  profound  contempt  for  the  quib 
bling  spirit  of  criticism  which  is  endeavoring  to  ex 
plain  away  the  meaning  of  language,  the  design  of 
which  as  a  matter  of  practice,  and  the  adoption  of 
which  as  a  matter  of  bargain,  were  intelligently  and 
clearly  understood  by  the  contracting  parties.  The 
truth  is  the  misnamed  *  Liberty  party  '  is  under  the 
control  of  as  ambitious,  unprincipled,  and  crafty  lead 
ers  as  is  either  the  Whig  or  Democratic  party;  and 
no  other  proof  of  this  assertion  is  needed  than  their 
unblushing  denial  of  the  great  object  of  the  national 
compact,  namely,  union  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  colored 
population  of  the  United  States.  Their  new  inter 
pretations  of  the  Constitution  are  a  bold  rejection  of 
the  facts  of  history,  and  a  gross  insult  to  the  intelli 
gence  of  the  age,  and  certainly  never  can  be  carried 
into  effect  without  dissolving  the  Union  by  provoking 
a  civil  war."  All  the  same,  the  pioneer  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding,  many  of  these  very  Liberty  party 
leaders  were  men  of  the  most  undoubted  candor  and 
honesty  and  of  extraordinary  intelligence. 

Garrison  was  never  able  to  see  the  Liberty  party, 
and  for  that  matter  Wendell  Phillips,  Edmund 
Ouincy,  and  others  of  the  old  organization  leaders 
could  not  either,  except  through  the  darkened  glass 
of  personal  antagonisms  growing  out  of  the  schism 
of  1840.  It  was  always,  under  all  circumstances,  to 
borrow  a  phrase  of  Phillips,  "  Our  old  enemy,  Liberty 


324  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

party."  And,  as  Quincy  naively  confesses  in  an  arti 
cle  in  the  Liberator  pointing  out  the  reasons  why 
Abolitionists  should  give  to  the  Free-soil  party  inci- 
denfal  aid  and  comfort,  which  were  forbidden  to  their 
"  old  enemy,  Liberty  party,"  the  significant  and 
amusing  fact  that  the  latter  was  "  officered  by  de 
serters."  Ay,  there  was  indeed  the  rub  !  The  mili 
tary  principle  of  the  great  leader  forbade  him  to 
recognize  deserters  as  allies.  Discipline  must  be 
maintained,  and  so  he  proceeded  to  maintain  the 
anti-slavery  discipline  of  his  army  by  keeping  up  a 
constant  fusillade  into  the  ranks  of  the  deserter  band, 
who,  in  turn,  were  every  whit  as  blinded  by  the  old 
quarrel  and  separation,  and  who  slyly  cherished  the 
modest  conviction  that,  when  they  seceded,  the  salt 
of  old  organization  lost  its  savor,  and  was  thenceforth 
fit  only  to  be  trampled  under  the  Liberty  party's  feet. 
Without  doubt,  those  old  Abolitionists  and  Liberty 
party  people  belonged  to  the  category  of  "humans." 

The  scales  of  the  old  grudge  dropped  from  Garri 
son's  eyes  directly  the  Free-Soil  party  loomed  upon 
the  political  horizon.  He  recognized  at  once  that,  if 
it  was  not  against  the  slave,  it  was  for  the  slave;  ap 
prehended  clearly  that,  in  so  far  as  the  new  party, 
which,  by  the  way,  was  only  the  second  stage  in  the 
development  of  the  central  idea  of  his  old  enemy, 
Liberty  party,  as  the  then  future  Republican  party 
was  to  be  its  third  and  final  expression,  apprehended 
clearly  I  say  that,  in  so  far  as  the  new  party  resisted 
the  aggressions  and  pretensions  of  the  slave-power,  it 
was  fighting  for  Abolition — was  an  ally  of  Aboli 
tionism. 

In  the  summer  of  1848,  from  Northampton,  whither 


AS    IN    A    LOOKING    GLASS.  325 

he  had  gone  to  take  the  water  cure,  Garrison  coun 
seled  Quincy,  who  was  filling  the  editorial  chair,  in 
the  interim,  at  the  Liberator  office,  in  this  sage  fash 
ion  :  "  As  for  the  Free-Soil  movement,  I  feel  that  great 
care  is  demanded  of  us  disunionists,  both  in  the 
Standard  and  the  Liberator,  in  giving  credit  to  whom 
credit  is  due,  and  yet  in  no  case  even  seeming  to  be 
satisfied  with  it."  In  the  winter  of  1848  in  a  letter  to 
Samuel  May,  Jr.,  he  is  more  explicit  on  this  head.  "  As 
for  the  Free-Soil  movement,"  he  observes,  "  I  am 
for  hailing  it  as  a  cheering  sign  of  the  times,  and  an 
unmistakble  proof  of  the  progress  we  have  made, 
under  God,  in  changing  public  sentiment.  Those 
who  have  left  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  for 
conscience's  sake,  and  joined  the  movement,  deserve 
our  commendation  and  sympathy  ;  at  the  same  time, 
it  is  our  duty  to  show  them,  and  all  others,  that  there 
is  a  higher  position  to  be  attained  by  them  or  they 
will  have  the  blood  of  the  slave  staining  their  gar 
ments.  This  can  be  done  charitably  yet  faithfully.  On 
the  two  old  parties,  especially  the  Whig-Taylor  party, 
I  would  expend— /r<?  tempore,  at  least — our  heaviest 
ammunition."  This  is  as  it  should  be,  the  tone  of 
wise  and  vigilant  leadership,  the  application  of  the 
true  test  to  the  circumstances,  viz.,  for  freedom  if 
against  slavery  ;  not  to  be  satisfied,  to  be  sure,  with 
any  thing  less  than  the  whole  but  disposed  to  give 
credit  to  whom  it  was  due,  whether  much  or  little. 
Pity  that  the  pioneer  could  not  have  placed  himself 
in  this  just  and  discriminating  point  of  view  in  re 
spect  of  his  old  enemy,  Liberty  party,  praising  in  it 
what  he  found  praiseworthy,  while  blaming  it  for 
what  he  felt  was  blameworthy.  But  perfection  weak 


326  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

human  nature  doth  not  attain  to  in  this  terrestrial 
garden  of  the  passions,  and  so  very  likely  the  magna 
nimity  which  we  have  desired  of  Garrison  is  not  for 
that  garden  to  grow  but  another  and  a  heavenly. 

Garrison  ill  brooked  opposition,  came  it  from  friends 
or  foes.  He  was  so  confident  in  his  own  positions 
that  he  could  not  but  distrust  their  opposites.  Of 
course,  if  his  were  right,  and  of  that  doubt  in  his  mind 
there  was  apparently  none,  then  the  positions  of  all 
others  had  to  be  wrong.  This  masterful  quality  of 
the  man  was  constantly  betrayed  in  the  acts  of 
his  life  and  felt  by  his  closest  friends  and  associates 
in  the  anti-slavery  movement.  Quincy,  writing  to 
Richard  Webb,  narrates  how,  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  1843,  Garri 
son  was  for  removing  it  to  Boston,  but  that  he  and 
Wendell  Phillips  were  for  keeping  it  where  it  then 
was  in  New  York,  giving  at  the  same  time  sundry 
good  and  sufficient  reasons  for  the  faith  that  was  in 
them,  and  how,  thereupon,  "Garrison  dilated  his  nos 
trils  like  a  war-horse,  and  snuffed  indignation  at  us." 
"  If  the  Boston  friends  were  unwilling  to  take  the 
trouble  and  responsibility,"  were  the  petulant,  accus 
ative  words  put  by  Quincy  into  his  chief's  mouth  on 
the  occasion,  "  then  there  was  nothing  more  to  be 
said  ;  we  must  try  to  get  along  as  well  as  we  could  in 
the  old  way."  And  how  they  disclaimed  "  any  un 
willingness  to  take  trouble  and  responsibility,"  while 
affirming  "  the  necessity  of  their  acting  on  their  own 
idea." 

Another  characteristic  of  the  pioneer  is  touched 
upon  by  the  same  writer  in  a  relation  which  he  was 
making  to  Webb  of  Garrison's  election  to  the  presi- 


AS    IN    A    LOOKING    GLASS.  327 

dency  of  the  parent  society.  Says  Quincy  :  "Garri 
son  makes  an  excellent  president  at  a  public  meeting 
where  the  order  of  speakers  is  in  some  measure  ar 
ranged,  as  he  has  great  felicity  in  introducing  and  in- 
terlocuting  remarks  ;  but  at  a  meeting  for  debate  he 
does  not  answer  so  well,  as  he  is  rather  too  apt,  with 
all  the  innocence  and  simplicity  in  the  world,  to  do 
all  the  talking  himself." 

The  same  friendly  critic  has  left  his  judgment  of 
other  traits  of  the  leader,  traits  not  so  much  of  the 
man  as  of  the  editor.  It  is  delivered  in  a  private 
letter  of  Quincy  to  Garrison  on  resigning  the  tempo 
rary  editorship  of  the  Liberator  to  "  its  legitimate 
possessor."  who  had  been  for  several  months  health- 
hunting  at  Northampton  in  the  beautiful  Connecticut 
Valley.  Quincy  made  bold  to  beard  the  Abolition 
lion  in  his  lair,  and  twist  his  tail  in  an  extremely 
lively  manner.  "  Now,  my  dear  friend,"  wrote  the 
disciple  to  the  master,  "  you  must  know  that  to  the 
microscopic  eyes  of  its  friends,  as  well  as  to  the  tele 
scopic  eyes  of  its  enemies,  the  Liberator  has  faults  j 
these  they  keep  to  themselves  as  much  as  they  hon 
estly  may,  but  they  are  not  the  less  sensible  of  them, 
and  are  all  the  more  desirous  to  see  them  immediately 
abolished.  Luckily,  they  are  not  faults  of  principle— 
neither  moral  nor  intellectual  deficiencies — but  faults 
the  cure  of  which  rests  solely  with  yourself. 

"I  hardly  know  how  to  tell  you  what  the  faults  are 
that  we  find  with  it,  lest  you  should  think  them 
none  at  all,  or  else  unavoidable.  But  no  matter,  of 
that  you  must  be  the  judge  ;  we  only  ask  you  to  lis 
ten  to  our  opinion.  We  think  the  paper  often  bears 
the  mark  of  haste  and  carelessness  in  its  getting  up  ; 


328  WILLIAM    LLOYD   GARRISON. 

that  the  matter  seems  to  be  hastily  selected  and  put 
in  higgledy-piggledy,  without  any  very  apparent  reason 
why  it  should  be  in  at  all,  or  why  it  should  be  in  the 
place  where  it  is.  I  suppose  this  is  often  caused  by 
your  selecting  articles  with  a  view  to  connect  remarks 
of  your  own  with  them,  which  afterward  in  your 
haste  you  omit.  Then  we  complain  that  each  paper 
is  not  so  nearly  a  complete  work  in  itself  as  it  might 
be  made,  but  that  things  are  often  left  at  loose  ends, 
and  important  matters  broken  off  in  the  middle.  I 
assure  you,  that  Brother  Harriman  is  not  the  only 
one  of  the  friends  of  the  Liberator  who  grieves  over 
your  *  more  anon  '  and  '  more  next  week  ' — which 
'  anon  '  and  '  next  week  '  never  arrive. 

"  Then  we  complain  that  your  editorials  are  too 
often  wanting,  or  else  such,  from  apparent  haste,  as 
those  who  love  your  fame  cannot  wish  to  see  ;  that 
important  topics,  which  you  feel  to  be  such,  are  too 
often  either  entirely  passed  over  or  very  cursorily 
treated,  and  important  moments  like  the  present 
neglected. 

"  We  have  our  suspicions,  too.  that  good  friends 
have  been  disaffected  by  the  neglect  of  their  com 
munications  ;  but  of  this  we  can  only  speak  by  con 
jecture.  In  short,  it  appears  to  those  who  are  your 
warmest  friends  and  the  stanchest  supporters  of  the 
paper,  that  you  might  make  the  Libtrator  a  more 
powerful  and  useful  instrumentality  than  it  is,  power 
ful  and  useful  as  it  is,  by  additional  exertions  on 
your  part.*  It  is  very  unpleasant  to  hear  invidious 
comparisons  drawn  between  the  Liberator  and  Emanci 
pator  with  regard  to  the  manner  of  getting  it  up, 
and  to  have  not  to  deny  but  to  excuse  them — ani  we 


AS   IN    A    LOOKING    GLASS.  329 

knowing  all  the  time  that  you  have  all  the  tact  and 
technical  talent  for  getting  up  a  good  newspaper  that 
Leavitt  has,  with  as  much  more,  intellectual  ability 
as  you  have  more  moral  honesty,  and  only  wanting 
some  of  his  (pardon  me)  industry,  application,  and 
method." 

Garrison,  to  his  honor,  did  not  allow  the  exceeding 
candor  of  his  mentor  to  disturb  their  friendship. 
The  pioneer  was  not  wholly  without  defence  to  the 
impeachment.  He  might  have  pleaded  ill  health,  of 
which  he  had  had  quantum  suf.  since  1836  for  himself 
and  family.  He  might  have  pleaded  also  the  dissipa 
tion  of  too  much  of  his  energies  in  consequence  of 
more  or  less  pecuniary  embarrassments  from  which 
he  was  never  wholly  freed  ;  but,  above  all,  he  might 
have  pleaded  his  increasing  activity  as  an  anti-slavery 
lecturer.  His  contributions  to  the  movement  against 
slavery  were  of  a  notable  character  in  this  direction, 
both  in  respect  of  quantity  and  quality.  He  was  not 
alone  the  editor  of  the  Liberator,  he  was  unquestion 
ably  besides  one  of  the  most  effective  and  interesting 
of  the  anti-slavery  speakers — indeed  in  the  judgment 
of  so  competent  an  authority  as  James  Russell 
Lowell,  he  was  regarded  as  the  most  effective  of  the 
anti-slavery  speakers.  Still,  after  all  is  placed  to  his 
credit  that  can  possibly  be,  Quincy's  complaints 
would  be  supported  by  an  altogether  too  solid  basis 
of  fact.  The  pioneer  was  much  given  to  procrastina 
tion.  What  was  not  urgent  he  was  strongly  tempted 
to  put  off  for  a  more  convenient  time.  His  work 
accumulated.  He  labored  hard  and  he  accom 
plished  much,  but  because  of  this  habit  of  postponing 
for  to-morrow  what  need  not  be  done  to-day,  he  was 


33O  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

necessarily  forced  to  leave  undone  many  things  which 
he  ought  to  have  done  and  which  he  might  have 
accomplished  had  he  been  given  to  putting  off  for 
to-morrow  nothing  which  might  be  finished  to-day. 

The  pioneer  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief,  but  never  was  he  wholly  cast  down  by  his 
misfortunes.  His  cheerful  and  bouyant  spirit  kept 
him  afloat  above  his  sorrows,  above  his  griefs.  The 
organ  of  mirthfulness  in  him  was  very  large.  He 
was  an  optimist  in  the  best  sense  of  that  word,  viz., 
that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that 
love  goodness.  In  the  darkest  moments  which  the 
Abolition  cause  encountered  his  own  countenance  was 
full  of  light,  his  own  heart  pierced  through  the 
gloom  and  communicated  its  glow  to  those  about 
him,  his  own  voice  rang  bugle-like  through  reverse 
and  disaster. 

In  his  family  the  reformer  was  seen  at  his  best. 
His  wife  was  his  friend  and  equal,  his  children  his 
playfellows  and  companions.  The  dust  of  the  great 
conflict  he  never  carried  with  him  into  his  home  to 
choke  the  love  which  burned  ever  brightly  on  its 
hearth  and  in  the  hearts  which  it  contained.  What 
he  professed  in  the  Liberator,  what  he  preached  in 
the  world,  of  non-resistance,  woman's  rights,  perfec 
tionism,  he  practiced  in  his  home,  he  embodied  as 
father,  and  husband,  and  host.  Never  lived  reformer 
who  more  completely  realized  his  own  ideals  to 
those  nearest  and  dearest  to  him  than  William  Lloyd 
Garrison. 

He  had  seven  children,  five  boys  and  two  girls. 
The  last,  Francis  Jackson,  was  born  to  him  in  the 
year  1848  Two  of  them  died  in  childhood,  a  boy 


AS    IN   A    LOOKING    GLASS.  331 

and  a  girl.  The  loss  of  the  boy,  whom  the  father 
had  "  named  admiringly,  gratefully,  reverently," 
Charles  Follen,  was  a  terrible  blow  to  the  reformer, 
and  a  life-long  grief  to  the  mother.  He  seemed  to 
have  been  a  singularly  beautiful,  winning,  and  affec 
tionate  little  man  and  to  have  inspired  sweet  hopes 
of  future  "usefulness  and  excellence"  in  the  breasts 
of  his  parents.  "  He  seemed  born  to  take  a  century 
on  his  shoulders,  without  stooping  ;  his  eyes  were 
large,  lustrous,  and  charged  with  electric  light  ;  his 
voice  was  clear  as  a  bugle,  melodious,  and  ever  ring 
ing  in  our  ears,  from  the  dawn  of  day  to  the  ushering 
in  of  night,  so  that  since  it  has  been  stilled,  our  dwell 
ing  has  seemed  to  be  almost  without  an  occupant," 
lamented  the  stricken  father  to  Elizabeth  Pease,  of 
Darlington,  England. 

"  Death  itself  to  me  is  not  terrible,  is  not  repulsive," 
poured  the  heartbroken  pioneer  into  the  ears  of  his 
English  friend,  "  is  not  to  be  deplored.  I  see  in  it  as 
clear  an  evidence  of  Divine  wisdom  and  beneficence 
as  I  do  in  the  birth  of  a  child,  in  the  works  of  crea 
tion,  in  all  the  arrangements  and  operations  of  nature. 
I  neither  fear  nor  regret  its  power.  I  neither  expect 
nor  supplicate  to  be  exempted  from  its  legitimate 
action.  It  is  not  to  be  chronicled  among  calamities  ; 
it  is  not  to  be  styled  "a  mysterious  dispensation  of 
Divine  Providence  ";  it  is  scarcely  rational  to  talk  of 
being  resigned  to  it.  For  what  is  more  rational,  what 
more  universal,  what  more  impartial,  what  more  ser 
viceable,  what  more  desirable,  in  God's  own  time, 
hastened  neither  by  our  ignorance  or  folly  ?  .  .  . 

"  When,  therefore,  my  dear  friend,  I  tell  you  that 
the  loss  of  my  dear  boy  has  overwhelmed  me  with 


332  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

sadness,  has  affected  my  peace  by  day  and  my  repose 
by  night,  has  been  a  staggering  blow,  from  the  shock 
of  which  I  find  it  very  difficult  to  recover,  you  will 
not  understand  me  as  referring  to  anything  pertain 
ing  to  another  state  of  existence,  or  as  gloomily  affec 
ted  by  a  change  inevitable  to  all  ;  far  from  it.  Where 
the  cherished  one  who  has  been  snatched  from  us  is, 
what  is  his  situation,  or  what  his  employment,  I 
know  not,  of  course  ;  and  it  gives  me  no  anxiety 
whatever.  Until  I  join  him  at  least  my  responsibility 
to  him  as  his  guardian  and  protector  has  ceased  ;  he 
does  not  need  my  aid,  he  cannot  be  benefited  by  my 
counsel.  That  he  will  still  be  kindly  cared  for  by 
Him  who  numbers  the  very  hairs  of  our  heads,  and 
without  whose  notice  a  sparrow  cannot  fall  to  the 
ground  ;  that  he  is  still  living,  having  thrown  aside 
his  mortal  drapery,  and  occupying  a  higher  sphere  of 
existence,  I  do  not  entertain  a  doubt.  My  grief 
arises  mainly  from  the  conviction  that  his  death  was 
premature  ;  that  he  was  actually  defrauded  of  his 
life  through  unskillful  treatment  ;  that  he  might  have 
been  saved,  if  we  had  not  been  so  unfortunately  situ 
ated  at  that  time.  This  to  be  sure,  is  not  certain  ; 
and  not  being  certain,  it  is  only  an  ingredient  of  con 
solation  that  we  find  in  our  cup  of  bitterness." 

The  pioneer  was  one  of  the  most  generous  of  givers. 
Poor  indeed  he  was,  much  beyond  the  common  allot 
ment  of  men  of  his  intelligence  and  abilities,  but  he 
was  never  too  indigent  to  answer  the  appeals  of 
poverty.  If  the  asker's  needs  were  greater  than  his 
own  he  divided  with  him  the  little  which  he  had.  To 
his  home  all  sorts  of  people  were  attracted,  Abolition 
ists,  peace  men,  temperance  reformers,  perfectionists, 


AS    IN    A    LOOKING    GLASS.  333 

homoeopathists,  hydropathists,  mesmerists,  spiritual 
ists,  Grahamites,  clairvoyants,  whom  he  received  with 
unfailing  hospitality,  giving  welcome  and  sympathy 
to  the  new  ideas,  food  and  shelter  for  the  material 
sustenance  of  the  fleshly  vehicles  of  the  new  ideas. 
He  evidently  was  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  there 
are  "  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth  than  are 
dreamt  of  "  in  the  philosophy  of  any  particular  period 
in  the  intellectual  development  of  man.  No  age 
knows  it  all.  It  was  almost  a  lo,  here,  and  a  lo, 
there,  with  him,  so  large  was  his  bump  of  wonder,  so 
unlimited  was  his  appetite  for  the  incredible  and  the 
improbable  in  the  domain  of  human  knowledge  and 
speculation.  Great  was  the  man's  faith,  great  was 
his  hope,  great  was  his  charity. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  observant  of  men  in  all 
matters  affecting  the  rights  of  others;  he  was  one  of 
the  least  observant  in  all  matters  appertaining  to  him 
self.  With  a  decided  taste  for  dress,  yet  his  actual 
knowledge  of  the  kind  of  clothes  worn  by  him  from 
day  to  day  was  amusingly  inexact,  as  the  following 
incident  shows:  Before  wearing  out  an  only  pair  of 
trousers,  the  pioneer  had  indulged  in  the  unusual  lux 
ury  of  a  new  pair.  But  as  there  was  still  considerable 
service  to  be  got  out  of  the  old  pair,  he,  like  a  prudent 
man,  laid  aside  the  new  ones  for  future  use.  His 
wife,  however,  who  managed  all  this  part  of  the  do 
mestic  business,  determined,  without  consulting  him, 
the  morning  when  the  new  trousers  should  be  donned. 
She  made  the  necessary  changes  when  her  lord  was 
in  bed,  putting  the  new  in  the  place  of  the  old.  Gar 
rison  wore  for  several  days  the  new  trousers,  thinking 
all  the  time  that  they  were  his  old  ones  until  his  illu- 


334  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

sions  in  this  regard  were  dispelled  by  an  incident 
which  cost  him  the  former.  Some  poor  wretch  of  a 
tramp,  knocking  in  an  evil  hour  at  the  pioneer's  door 
and  asking  for  clothes,  decided  the  magnificent  pos 
sessor  of  two  pairs  of  trousers,  to  don  his  new  ones 
and  to  pass  the  old  ones  on  to  the  tramp.  But  when 
he  communicated  the  transaction  to  his  wife,  she 
hoped,  with  a  good  deal  of  emphasis,  that  he  had  not 
given  away  the  pair  of  breeches  which  he  was  wear 
ing,  for  if  he  had  she  would  beg  to  inform  him  that 
he  had  given  away  his  best  ones  !  But  the  pioneer's 
splendid  indifference  to  meum  and  tnuin  where  his  own 
possessions  were  concerned  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
He  got  his  compensation  in  the  thought  that  his  loss 
was  another's  gain.  That,  indeed,  was  not  to  be  ac 
counted  loss  which  had  gone  to  a  brother-man  whose 
needs  were  greater  than  his  own. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    TURNING    OF    A    LONG    LANE. 

GARRISON'S  forecast  of  the  future,  directly  after  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  proved  singularly  correct. 
Never,  as  at  that  moment,  had  the  slave-power 
seemed  so  secure  in  its  ascendency,  yet  never,  at  any 
previous  period,  was  it  so  near  its  downfall.  Freedom 
had  reached  that  darkest  hour  just  before  dawn;  and 
this,  events  were  speedily  to  make  clear.  If  the  South 
could  have  trammeled  up  the  consequences  of  annexa 
tion,  secure,  indeed,  for  a  season,  would  it  have  held 
its  political  supremacy  in  America  ?  But  omnipotent 
as  was  the  slave-power  in  the  Government,  it  was  not 
equal  to  this  labor.  In  the  great  game,  in  which 
Texas  was  the  stakes,  Fate  had,  unawares,  slipped  into 
the  seat  between  the  gamesters  with  hands  full  of 
loaded  dice.  At  the  first  throw  the  South  got  Texas, 
at  the  second  the  war  with  Mexico  fell  out,  and  at 
the  third  new  national  territory  lay  piled  upon  the 
boards. 

Calhoun,  the  arch-annexationist,  struggled  desper 
ately  to  avert  the  war.  He  saw  as  no  other  Southern 
leader  saw  its  tremendous  significance  in  the  conflict 
between  the  two  halves  of  the  Union  for  the  political 
balance.  The  admission  of  Texas  had  made  an  ad 
justment  of  this  balance  in  favor  of  the  South.  Cal- 
houn's  plan  was  to  conciliate  Mexico,  to  sweep  with 

(335) 


336  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

our  diplomatic  broom  the  gathering  war-clouds  from 
the  national  firmament.  War,  he  knew,  would  im 
peril  the  freshly  fortified  position  of  his  section — war 
which  meant  at  its  close  the  acquisition  of  new  na 
tional  territory,  with  which  the  North  would  insist 
upon  retrieving  its  reverse  in  the  controversy  over 
Texas.  War,  therefore,  the  great  nullifier  resolved 
against.  He  cried  halt  to  his  army,  but  the  army 
heard  not  his  voice,  heeded  not  his  orders,  in  the  wild 
uproar  and  clamor  which  arose  at  the  sight  of  help 
less  Mexico,  and  the  temptation  of  adding  fresh  slave 
soil  to  the  United  States  South,  through  her  spolia 
tion.  Calhoun  confessed  that,  with  the  breaking  out 
of  hostilities  between  the  two  republics  an  impene 
trable  curtain  had  shut  from  his  eyes  the  future.  The 
great  plot  for  maintaining  the  political  domination  of 
the  South  had  miscarried.  New  national  territory 
had  become  inevitable  with  the  firing  of  the  first  gun. 
Seeing  this,  Calhoun  endeavored  to  postpone  the  evil 
day  for  the  South  by  proposing  a  military  policy  of 
"  masterly  inactivity"  whereby  time  might  be  gained 
for  his  side  to  prepare  to  meet  the  blow  when  it  fell. 
But  his  "  masterly  inactivity"  policy  was  swept  aside 
by  the  momentum  of  the  national  passion  which 
the  war  had  aroused. 

California  and  New  Mexico  became  the  strategic 
points  of  the  slavery  struggle  at  the  close  of  the  war. 
To  open  both  to  the  immigration  of  slave-labor  was 
thenceforth  the  grand  design  of  the  South.  Over 
Oregon  occurred  a  fierce  preliminary  trial  of  strength 
between  the  sections.  The  South  was  thrown  in  the 
contest,  and  the  anti-slavery  principle  of  the  Ordi 
nance  of  1787  applied  to  the  Territory.  Calhoun, 


THE    TURNING     OF    A    LONG    LANE.  337 

who  was  apparently  of  the  mind  that  as  Oregon  went 
so  would  go  California  and  New  Mexico,  was  violently 
agitated  by  this  reverse.  "  The  great  strife  between 
the  North  and  the  South  is  ended,"  he  passionately 
declared.  Immediately  the  charge  was  made  and 
widely  circulated  through  the  slave  States  that  the 
stronger  was  oppressing  the  weaker  section,  wresting 
from  it  its  just  share  in  the  common  fruits  of  common 
victories.  For  had  not  California  and  New  Mexico 
been  won  by  the  bravery  and  blood  of  the  South  as 
of  the  North,  and  how  then  was  the  North  to  deprive 
the  South  of  its  joint  ^ownership  of  them  without 
destroying  the  federal  equality  of  the  two  halves  of 
the  Union  ?  What  was  it  but  to  subvert  the  Union 
existing  among  the  States  ? 

Disunion  sentiment  was  thenceforth  ladled  out  to 
the  slave  States  in  increasing  quantities.  The  turn 
ing  of  the  long  lane  in  the  domination  of  the  slave- 
power  was  visibly  near.  With  Garrison  at  one  end  and 
Calhoun  at  the  other  the  work  of  dissolution  advanced 
apace.  The  latter  announced,  in  1848,  that  the  sepa 
ration  of  the  two  sections  was  complete.  Ten  years 
before,  Garrison  had  made  proclamation  that  the 
Union,  though  not  in  form,  was,  nevertheless,  in  fact 
dissolved.  And  possibly  they  were  right.  The  line 
of  cleavage  had  at  the  date  of  Calhoun's  announce 
ment  passed  entirely  through  the  grand  strata  of 
national  life,  industrial,  moral,  political,  and  religious. 
There  remained  indeed  but  a  single  bond  of  connec 
tion  between  the  slave-holding  and  the  non-slave- 
holding  States,  viz.,  fealty  to  party.  But  in  1848 
not  even  this  slender  link  was  intact. 

The  anti-slavery  uprising  was  a  fast  growing  factor 


338  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

in  the  politics  of  the  free  States.  This  was  evinced 
by  the  aggressiveness  of  anti-slavery  legislation,  the 
repeal  of  slave  sojournment  laws,  the  enactment  of 
personal  liberty  laws,  the  increasing  preference  mani 
fested  by  Whig  and  by  Democratic  electors  for  anti- 
slavery  Whig,  and  anti-slavery  Democratic  leaders. 
Seward  and  Chase,  and  Hale  and  Hamlin,  Thaddeus 
Stevens  and  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  were  all  in  Congress 
in  1849.  A  revolution  was  working  in  the  North  ;  a 
revolution  was  working  in  the  South.  New  and 
bolder  spirits  were  rising  to  leadership  in  both  sec 
tions.  On  the  Southern  stage  were  Jefferson  Davis, 
Barnwell  Rhett,  David  Atchison,  Howell  Cobb, 
Robert  Toombs,  and  James  M.  Mason.  The  outlook 
was  portentous,  tempestuous. 

The  tide  of  excitement  culuminated  in  the  crisis 
of  1850.  The  extraordinary  activity  of  the  under 
ground  railroad  system,  and  its  failure  to  open  the 
national  Territories  to  slave  immigration  had  trans 
ported  the  South  to  the  verge  of  disunion.  California, 
fought  over  by  the  two  foes,  was  in  the  act  of  with 
drawing  herself  from  the  field  of  contention  to  a 
position  of  independent  Statehood.  It  was  her  rap 
for  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  free  State  which  pre 
cipitated  upon  the  country  the  last  of  the  compromises 
between  freedom  and  slavery.  It  sounded  the  open 
ing  of  the  final  act  of  Southern  domination  in  the 
republic. 

The  compromise  of  1850,  a  series  of  five  acts,  three 
of  which  it  took  to  conciliate  the  South,  while  two 
were  considered  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  North,  was, 
after  prolonged  and  stormy  debate,  adopted  to  save 
Webster's  glorious  Union.  These  five  acts  were,  in 


THE    TURNING     OF    A    LONG    LANE.  339 

the  agonized  accents  of  Clay,  to  heal  "the  five  fire- 
gaping  wounds"  of  the  country.  But  the  wounds 
were  immedicable,  as  events  were  soon  to  prove. 
Besides,  two  at  least  of  the  remedies  failed  to  operate 
as  emollients.  They  irritated  and  inflamed  the 
national  ulcers  and  provoked  fresh  paroxysms  of  the 
disease.  The  admission  of  California  as  a  free  State 
was  a  sort  of  perpetual  memento  mori  to  the  slave- 
power.  It  hung  forever  over  the  South  the  Damo- 
clean  blade  of  Northern  political  ascendency  in  the 
Union.  The  fugitive  slave  law  on  the  other  hand 
produced  results  undreamt  of  by  its  authors.  Who 
would  have  ventured  to  predict  the  spontaneous,  irre 
sistible  insurrection  of  the  humane  forces  and  passions 
of  the  North  which  broke  out  on  the  passage  of  the 
infamous  bill  ?  Who  could  have  foretold  the  moral 
and  political  consequences  of  its  execution,  for  in 
stance,  in  Boston,  which  fifteen  years  before  had 
mobbed  anti-slavery  women  and  dragged  Garrison 
through  its  streets?  The  moral  indignation  aroused 
by  the  law  in  Massachusetts  swept  Webster  and  the 
Whigs  from  power,  carried  Sumner  to  the  Senate  and 
crowned  Liberty  on  Beacon  Hill.  It  worked  a  rev 
olution  in  Massachusetts,  it  wrought  changes  of  the 
greatest  magnitude  in  the  free  States. 

From  this  time  the  reign  of  discord  became  uni 
versal.  The  conflict  between  the  sections  increased 
in  virulence.  At  the  door  of  every  man  sat  the  fierce 
figure  of  strife.  It  fulmined  from  the  pulpit  and 
frowned  from  the  pews.  The  platforms  of  the  free 
States  resounded  with  the  thunder  of  tongues.  The 
press  exploded  with  the  hot  passions  of  the  hour. 
Parties  warred  against  each  other.  Factions  arose 


340  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

within  parties  and  fought  among  themselves  with  no 
less  bitterness.  Wrath  is  infectious  and  the  wrathful 
temper  of  the  nation  became  epidemic.  The  Ishmael- 
itish  impulse  to  strike  something  or  someone,  was 
irresistible.  The  bonds  which  had  bound  men  to  one 
another  seemed  everywhere  loosening,  and  people  in 
masses  were  slipping  away  from  old  to  enter  into 
new  combinations  of  political  activity.  It  was  a  pe 
riod  of  tumultuous  transition  and  confusion.  The 
times  were  topsy-turvy  and  old  Night  and  Chaos  were 
the  angels  who  sat  by  the  bubbling  abysses  of  the 
revolution. 

In  the  midst  of  this  universal  and  violent  agitation 
of  the  public  mind  the  old  dread  of  disunion  returned 
to  torment  the  American  bourgeoisie,  who  through 
their  presses,  especially  those  of  the  metropolis  of  the 
Union,  turned  fiercely  upon  the  Abolitionists.  While 
the  compromise  measures  were  the  subject  of  excited 
debate  before  Congress,  the  anniversary  meeting  of 
the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  fell  due.  But  the 
New  York  journals,  the  Herald  in  particular,  had  no 
mind  to  allow  the  meeting  to  take  place  without 
renewing  the  reign  of  terror  of  fifteen  years  before. 
Garrison  was  depicted  as  worse  than  Robespierre,  with 
an  insatiable  appetite  for  the  destruction  of  established 
institutions,  both  human  and  divine.  The  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union,  the  "  overthrow  of  the  churches, 
the  Sabbath,  and  the  Bible,"  all  were  required  to  glut 
his  malevolent  passion.  "  Will  the  men  of  sense  allow 
meetings  to  be  held  in  this  city  which  are  calculated 
to  make  our  country  the  arena  of  blood  and  murder," 
roared  the  Herald,  "  and  render  our  city  an  object  of 
horror  to  the  whole  South  ?  .  .  .  Public  opinion 


THE    TURNING    OF   A   LONG    LANZ.  341 

should  be  regulated.  These  Abolitionists  should  not 
be  allowed  to  misrepresent  New  York."  In  order  to 
suppress  the  Abolitionists  that  paper  did  not  blink  at 
any  means,  however  extreme  or  revolutionary,  but 
declared  boldly  in  favor  of  throttling  free  discussion. 
"  When  free  discussion  does  not  promote  the  public 
good/'  argued  the  editor,  "  it  has  no  more  right  to 
exist  than  a  bad  government  that  is  dangerous  and 
oppressive  to  the  common  weal.  It  should  be  over 
thrown."  The  mob  thus  invoked  came  forward  on 
the  opening  of  the  convention  to  overthrow  free  dis 
cussion. 

The  storm  which  the  New  York  press  was  at  so 
much  labor  to  brew,  Garrison  did  not  doubt  would 
break  over  the  convention.  He  went  to  it  in  a  truly 
apostolic  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  "Not  knowing  the 
things  that  shall  befall  me  there,  saving  that  bonds 
and  afflictions  abide  with  me  in  every  city,"  he  wrote 
his  wife  an  hour  before  the  commencement  of  the 
convention.  His  prevision  of  violence  was  quickly 
fulfilled.  He  had  called  Francis  Jackson  to  the  chair 
during  the  delivery  of  the  opening  speech  which  fell 
to  the  pioneer  to  make  as  the  president  of  the  society. 
His  subject  was  the  Religion  of  the  Country,  to  which 
he  was  paying  his  respects  in  genuine  Garrisonian 
fashion.  Belief  in  Jesus  in  the  United  States  had  no 
vital  influence  on  conduct  or  character.  The  chief 
religious  denominations  were  in  practice  pro-slavery, 
they  had  uttered  no  protest  against  the  national  sin. 
There  was  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  whose  "priests 
and  members  held  slaves  without  incurring  the  rebuke 
of  the  Church."  At  this  point  the  orator  was  inter 
rupted  by  one  of  those  monstrous  products  of  the 


342  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

slums  of  the  American  metropolis,  compounded  of  the 
bully,  the  blackleg,  and  the  demagogue  in  aboul 
equal  proportions.  It  was  the  notorious  Captain 
Isaiah  Rynders,  perched  with  his  band  of  black 
guards  in  the  organ  loft  of  the  tabernacle  and  ready 
to  do  the  will  of  the  metropolitan  journals  by  over 
throwing  the  right  of  free  discussion.  He  was  not  dis 
posed  to  permit  Mr.  Garrison's  censure  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  to  pass  unchallenged,  so  he  begged 
to  ask  "  whether  there  are  no  other  churches  as  well  as 
the  Catholic  Church,  whose  clergy  and  lay  members 
hold  slaves?"  To  which  the  anti-slavery  leader 
replied  with  the  utmost  composure,  not  inclined  to 
let  even  Captain  Rynders  interrupt  the  even  and 
orderly  progression  of  his  discourse  :  "  Will  the 
friend  wait  for  a  moment,  and  I  will  answer  him  in 
reference  to  other  churches  ?  "  "  The  friend  "  there 
upon  resumed  his  seat  in  the  organ  loft,  and  Garrison 
proceeded  with  his  indictment  of  the  churches.  There 
was  the  Episcopal  Church,  whose  clergy  and  laity 
dealt  with  impunity  in  human  flesh,  and  the  Presby 
terians,  whose  ministers  and  members  did  likewise 
without  apparently  any  compunctious  visitings  of 
conscience,  ditto  the  Baptist,  ditto  the  Methodist.  In 
fact  "all  the  sects  are  combined,"  the  orator  sternly 
continued,  "  to  prevent  that  jubilee  which  it  is  the 
will  of  God  should  come." 

But  the  bully  in  the  organ  loft,  who  was  not  con 
tent  for  long  to  play  the  part  of  Patience  on  a  monu 
ment,  interrupted  the  speaker  with  a  second  question 
which  he  looked  upon,  doubtless,  as  a  hard  nut  to 
crack.  "  Are  you  aware,"  inquired  the  blackleg 
"  that  the  slaves  in  the  South  have  their  prayer- 


THE    TURNING    OF   A   LONG   LANE.  343 

meetings  in  honor  of  Christ?"  The  nut  was  quickly 
crushed  between  the  sharp  teeth  of  the  orator's  scath 
ing  retort.  Mr.  Garrison — "  Not  a  slave-holding  or 
a  slave-breeding  Jesus.  (Sensation.)  The  slaves  be 
lieve  in  a  Jesus  that  strikes  off  chains.  In  this  coun 
try  Jesus  has  become  obsolete.  A  profession  in  him 
is  no  longer  a  test.  Who  objects  to  his  course  in 
Judaea?  The  old  Pharisees  are  extinct,  and  may 
safely  be  denounced.  Jesus  is  the  most  respectable 
person  in  the  United  States.  (Great  sensation  and 
murmurs  of  disapprobation.)  Jesus  sits  in  the  Presi 
dent's  chair  of  the  United  States.  (A  thrill  of  horror 
here  seemed  to  run  through  the  assembly.)  Zachary 
Taylor  sits  there,  which  is  the  same  thing,  for  he  be 
lieves  in  Jesus.  He  believes  in  war,  and  the  Jesus 
that  '  gave  the  Mexicans  hell.' '  (Sensation,  uproar, 
and  confusion.) 

This  rather  sulphurous  allusion  to  the  President  of 
the  glorious  Union,  albeit  in  language  used  by  him 
self  in  a  famous  order  during  the  Mexican  War,  acted 
as  a  red  rag  upon  the  human  bull  in  the  organ  loft, 
who,  now  beside  himself  with  passion,  plunged  madly 
down  to  the  platform  with  his  howling  mob  at  his 
heels.  "  I  will  not  allow  you  to  assail  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  You  shan't  do  it  !"  bellowed  the 
blackguard,  shaking  his  fist  at  Mr.  Garrison.  But 
Mr.  Garrison,  with  that  extraordinary  serenity  of 
manner  which  was  all  his  own,  parleyed  with  the 
ruffian,  as  if  he  was  no  ruffian  and  had  no  mob  at  his 
back.  "  You  ought  not  to  interrupt  us,"  he  remon 
strated  with  gentle  dignity.  "  We  go  upon  the  prin 
ciple  of  hearing  everybody.  If  you  wish  to  speak,  I 
will  keep  order,  and  you  shall  be  heard."  Rynders 


344  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

was  finally  quieted  by  the  offer  of  Francis  Jackson  to 
give  him  a  hearing  as  soon  as  Mr.  Garrison  had 
brought  his  address  to  an  end. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Furness,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  a 
member  of  the  convention  and  also  one  of  the  speak 
ers,  has  preserved  for  us  the  contrasts  of  the  occasion. 
"  The  close  of  Mr.  Garrison's  address,"  says  he, 
"  brought  down  Rynders  again,  who  vociferated  and 
harangued  at  one  time  on  the  platform,  and  then 
pushing  down  into  the  aisles,  like  a  madman  followed 
by  his  keepers.  Through  the  whole,  nothing  could 
be  more  patient  and  serene  than  the  bearing  of  Mr. 
Garrison.  I  have  always  revered  Mr.  Garrison  for 
his  devoted,  uncompromising  fidelity  to  his  great 
cause.  To-day  I  was  touched  to  the  heart  by  his 
calm  and  gentle  manners.  There  was  no  agitation, 
no  scorn,  no  heat,  but  the  quietness  of  a  man  engaged 
in  simple  duties." 

The  madman  and  his  keepers  were  quite  vanquished 
on  the  first  day  of  the  convention  by  the  wit,  repar 
tee,  and  eloquence  of  Frederick  Douglass,  Dr.  Fur- 
ness,  and  Rev.  Samuel  R.  Ward,  whom  Wendell  Phil 
lips  described  as  so  black  that  "  when  he  shut  his  eyes 
you  could  not  see  him."  But  it  was  otherwise  on  the 
second  day  when  public  opinion  was  "  regulated," 
and  free  discussion  overthrown  by  Captain  Rynders 
and  his  villainous  gang,  who  were  resolved,  with  the 
authors  of  the  compromise,  that  the  Union  as  it  was 
should  be  preserved. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  high  authority  and 
achievements  of  this  noble  band  of  patriots  and 
brothers,  Garrison's  detestation  of  the  Union  but 
increased,  and  his  cry  for  its  dissolution  grew  deeper 


THE    TURNING     OF    A    LONG    LANE.  345 

and  louder.  And  no  wonder.  For  never  had  the 
compact  between  freedom  and  slavery  seemed  more 
hateful  than  after  the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Bill.  The  state  of  panic  which  it  created  among  the 
colored  people  in  the  free  States  will  form,  if  ever 
written  down,  one  of  the  most  heartrending  chapters 
in  human  history.  Hundreds  and  thousands  fled 
from  their  homes  into  the  jaws  of  a  Canadian  winter 
to  escape  the  jaws  of  the  slave-hounds,  whose  fierce 
baying  began  presently  to  fill  the  land  from  Massa 
chusetts  to  Ohio.  It  made  no  difference  whether 
these  miserable  people  had  been  always  free  or  were 
fugitives  from  slavery,  the  terror  spread  among 
them  all  the  same.  The  aged  and  the  young  turned 
their  backs  upon  their  homes  and  hurried  precipi 
tately  into  a  strange  country.  Fathers  with  wives 
and  children  dependant  upon  them  for  their  daily 
bread,  were  forced  by  the  dread  of  being  captured 
and  returned  to  bondage  to  abandon  their  homes 
and  loved  ones,  sometimes  without  so  much  as  a 
touch  of  their  hands  or  a  tone  of  their  voices  in 
token  of  farewell.  Perhaps  on  his  way  to  work  in 
the  morning  some  husband  or  son  has  caught  a 
glimpse  among  the  faces  on  the  street  of  one  face, 
the  remembrance  of  which  to  the  day  of  death, 
he  can  never  lose,  a  face  he  had  known  in  some  far 
away  Southern  town  or  plantation,  and  with  which 
are  connected  in  the  poor  fellow's  brain  the  most 
frightful  sufferings  and  associations.  Crazed  at  the 
sight,  with  no  thought  of  home,  of  the  labors  which 
are  awaiting  him,  oblivious  of  everything  but  the 
abject  terror  which  has  suddenly  taken  possession  of 
him,  he  hastens  away  to  hide  and  fly,  fly  and  hide,  until 


WILLIAM  LLOYD    GARRISON. 

he  reaches  a  land  where  slave-hounds  enter  not,  and 
panting  fugitives  find  freedom.  Wendell  Phillips 
tells  of  an  old  woman  of  seventy  who  asked  his 
advice  about  flying,  though  originally  free,  and  fear 
ful  only  of  being  caught  up  by  mistake.  The  dis 
tress  everywhere  was  awful,  the  excitement  inde 
scribable.  From  Boston  alone  in  the  brief  space  of 
three  weeks  after  the  rescue  of  Shadrach,  nearly  a 
hundred  of  these  panic-stricken  creatures  had  fled. 
The  whole  number  escaping  into  Canada  Charles 
Sumner  placed  as  high  as  six  thousand  souls.  But 
in  addition  to  this  large  band  of  fugitives,  others 
emigrated  to  the  interior  of  New  England  away  from 
the  seaboard  centers  of  trade  and  commerce  where 
the  men-hunters  abounded. 

The  excitement  and  the  perils  of  this  period  were 
not  confined  to  the  colored  people.  Their  whita 
friends  shared  both  with  them.  We  are  indebted  to  Mr. 
Phillips  for  the  following  graphic  account  of  these 
excitements  and  perils  in  Boston  in  March,  1851. 
He  has  been  describing  the  situation  in  the  city,  in 
respect  of  the  execution  of  the  infamous  law,  to 
Elizabeth  Pease,  and  goes  on  thus :  "  I  need  not 
enlarge  on  this  ;  but  the  long  evening  sessions — 
debates  about  secret  escapes — plans  to  evade  where  we 
can't  resist — the  door  watched  that  no  spy  may  enter— 
the  whispering  consultations  of  the  morning — some 
putting  property  out  of  their  hands,  planning  to 
incur  penalties,  and  planning  also  that,  in  case  of 
conviction,  the  Government  may  get  nothing  from 
them — the  doing,  and  answering  no  questions — 
intimates  forbearing  to  ask  the  knowledge  which  it 
may  be  dangerous  to  have — all  remind  one  of  those 


THE    TURNING     OF    A    LONG    LANE.  347 

foreign  scenes  which  have  hitherto  been  known  to  us, 
transatlantic  republicans,  only  in  books." 

On  the  passage  of  the  Black  Bill,  as  the  Abolition 
ists  stigmatised  the  law,  it  was  not  believed  that  the 
moral  sentiment  of  Boston  would  execute  it,  so  hor 
rified  did  the  community  seem.  But  it  was  soon  ap 
parent  to  the  venerable  Josiah  Quincy  that  "  The 
Boston  of  1851  is  not  the  Boston  of  1775.  Boston," 
the  sage  goes  on  to  remark,  "has  now  become  a 
mere  shop — a  place  for  buying  and  selling  goods; 
and,  I  suppose,  also  of  buying  and  selling  men."  The 
great  idol  of  her  shopkeepers,  Daniel  Webster, 
having  striven  mightily  for  the  enactment  of  the 
hateful  bill  while  Senator  of  the  United  States,  had 
gone  into  Millard  Fillmore's  Cabinet,  to  labor  yet 
more  mightily  for  its  enforcement.  The  rescue  of 
Shadrach,  which  Mr.  Secretary  of  State  character 
ized  "as  a  case  of  treason,"  set  him  to  thundering 
for  the  Union  as  it  was,  and  against  the  "fanatics," 
who  were  stirring  up  the  people  of  the  free  States 
to  resist  the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
But  he  was  no  longer  "  the  God-like "  Webster,  for 
he  appeared  to  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  as  "  an 
ordinary-looking,  poor,  decrepit  old  man,  whose  limbs 
could  scarce  support  him;  lank  with  age;  whose 
sluggish  legs  were  somewhat  concealed  by  an  over 
shadowing  abdomen;  with  head  downcast  and  arms 
shriveled,  and  dangling  almost  helpless  by  his  side, 
and  incapable  of  being  magnetized  for  the  use  of 
the  orator."  The  voice  and  the  front  of  "the  God 
like"  had  preceded  the  "poor  decrepit  old  man"  to 
the  grave.  Garrison  dealt  no  less  roughly  and  irrev 
erently  with  another  of  the  authors  of  the  wicked 


348  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

law  and  another  of  the  superannuated  divinities  of  a 
shopkeeping  North,  Henry  Clay.  *'  HENRY  CLAY, 
with  one  foot  in  the  grave,"  exclaimed  the  reformer, 
"and  just  ready  to  have  both  body  and  soul  cast  into 
hell,  as  if  eager  to  make  his  damnation  doubly  sure, 
rises  in  the  United  States  Senate  and  proposes  an 
inquiry  into  the  expediency  of  passing  yet  another 
law,  by  which  every  one  who  shall  dare  peep  or 
mutter  against  the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill 
shall  have  his  life  crushed  out." 

In  those  trial  times  words  from  the  mouth  or  the 
pen  of  Abolitionists  had  the  force  of  deadly  missiles. 
Incapacitated  as  Garrison  was  to  resort  to  physical 
resistance  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  by  his  non- 
resistant  doctrine,  it  seemed  that  all  the  energy  and 
belligerency  of  the  man  went  into  the  most  tremen 
dous  verbal  expressions.  They  were  like  adamantine 
projectiles  flung  with  the  savage  strength  of  a  catapult 
against  the  walls  of  slavery.  The  big  sinners,  like  Web 
ster  and  Clay,  he  singled  out  for  condign  punishment, 
were  objects  of  his  utmost  severities  of  speech.  It  was 
thus  that  he  essayed  to  breach  the  iron  dungeon  in 
which  the  national  iniquity  had  shut  the  national  con 
science.  Saturated  was  the  reformer's  mind  with  the 
thought  of  the  Bible,  its  solemn  and  awful  imagery, 
its  fiery  and  prophetic  abhorrence  and  denunciations 
of  national  sins,  all  of  which  furnished  him  an  un 
failing  magazine  whence  were  drawn  the  bolts  which 
he  launched  against  the  giant  sin  and  the  giant  sin 
ners  of  his  time.  And  so  Clay  had  not  only  "  one 
foot  in  the  grave,"  but  was  "just  ready  to  have  both 
body  and  soul  cast  into  hell." 

While    physical    resistance  of    the  Slave  Law  was 


THE    TURNING     OF    A    LONG    LANE.  349 

wholly  out  of  the  question  with  Garrison,  he,  never 
theless,  refused  to  condemn  the  men  with  whom  it 
was  otherwise.  Here  he  was  anything  but  a  fanatic. 
All  that  he  required  was  that  each  should  be  consis 
tent  with  his  principles.  If  those  principles  bade  him 
resist  the  enforcement  of  the  Black  Bill,  the  apostle 
of  non-resistance  was  sorry  enough,  but  in  this  emer 
gency,  though  he  possessed  the  gentleness  of  the 
dove,  he  also  practised  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent. 
That  truth  moves  with  men  upon  lower  as  well  as 
higher  planes  he  well  knew.  It  is  always  partial  and 
many-colored,  refracted  as  it  is  through  the  prisms 
of  human  passion  and  prejudice.  If  it  appear  unto 
some  minds  in  the  red  bar  of  strife  and  blood,  so  be 
it.  Each  must  follow  the  light  which  it  is  given  him 
to  discern,  whether  the  blue  of  love  or  the  red  of 
war.  Great  coadjutors,  like  Wendell  Phillips,  Theo 
dore  Parker,  and  Dr.  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  were  for 
forcible  resistance  to  the  execution  of  the  Law.  So 
were  the  colored  people.  Preparations  to  this  end 
went  on  vigorously  in  Boston  under  the  direction  of 
the  Vigilance  Committee.  The  Crafts  escaped  the 
clutches  of  the  slave-hunters,  so  did  Shadrach  escape 
them,  but  Sims  and  Burns  fell  into  them  and  were 
returned  to  bondage. 

From  this  time  on  Wendell  Phillips  became  in  Bos 
ton  and  in  the  North  more  distinctly  the  leader  of  the 
Abolition  sentiment.  The  period  of  pure  moral  agi 
tation  ended  with  the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law.  That  act  opened  a  new  era  in  the  movement,  an 
era  in  which  non-resistance  had  no  place,  an  era  in 
which  a  resort  to  physical  force  in  settlement  of 
sectional  differences,  the  whole  trend  of  things  were 


350  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

making  inevitable.  Fighting,  the  Anglo-Saxon 
method,  as  Theodore  Parker  characterized  it,  of  mak 
ing  a  final  settlement  of  just  such  controversies  as 
was  the  slavery  question,  was  in  the  air,  had  become 
without  any  general  consciousness  of  it  at  the  time 
appearing  in  the  popular  mind,  a  foregone  conclus 
ion,  from  the  moment  that  the  South  wrested  from 
the  National  Government  the  right  to  defy  and 
override  the  moral  sentiment  of  free  State  com 
munities.  With  this  advance  of  the  anti-slavery 
agitation  a  stage  nearer  the  end,  when  fighting  would 
supersede  all  other  methods,  the  fighters  gravitated 
naturally  to  the  front  of  the  conflict,  and  the  apostle 
of  non-resistance  fell  somewhat  into  the  background 
of  the  great  movement  started  by  him. 

Garrison  had  begun,  indeed,  to  recognize  that  there 
were  other  ways  besides  his  way  of  abolishing  slav 
ery — had  begun  to  see  that  these  with  his  led  to  Rome, 
to  the  ultimate  extinction  of  the  evil,  to  which  anti- 
slavery  unionists  and  disunionists  were  alike  de 
voted.  His  innate  sagacity  and  strong  sense  of  jus 
tice  lifted  the  reformer  to  larger  toleration  of  mind. 
At  a  dinner  given  in  Boston  in  May,  1853,  by  the  Free 
Democracy  to  John  P.  Hale,  he  was  not  only  present 
to  testify  his  appreciation  of  the  courage  aud  services 
of  Mr.  Hale  to  the  common  cause,  but  while  there 
was  able  to  speak  thus  tolerantly — tolerantly  for  him 
certainly — of  a  Union  dear  to  the  company  about  the 
table  yet  hateful  beyond  measure  to  himself  :  "  Sir, 
you  will  pardon  me,"  spoke  the  arch  anti-slavery  dis- 
unionist,  "  for  the  reference.  I  have  heard  something 
here  about  our  Union,  about  the  value  of  the  Union, 
and  the  importance  of  preserving  the  Union.  Gen- 


THE    TURNING     OF    A    LONG    LANE.  351 

tlemen,  if  you  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  find  a 
Union  worth  preserving,  I  heartily  congratulate  you. 
Cling  to  it  with  all  your  souls  ! "  For  himself,  he  has 
not  been  so  fortunate.  With  a  price  set  on  his  head  in 
one  of  the  Southern  States,  and  outlawed  in  all  of 
them,  he  begs  to  be  pardoned  if  found  lacking  in 
loyalty  to  the  existing  Union,  which  to  him,  alas,  :  "is 
but  another  name  for  the  iron  reign  of  the  slave-power. 
We  have  no  common  country  as  yet.  God  grant  we 
may  have.  We  shall  have  it  when  the  jubilee  comes — 
and  not  till  then,"  he  declared,  mindful  of  the  convic 
tions  of  others,  yet  bravely  true  to  his  own.  The  seeds 
of  liberty,  of  hatred  of  the  slave-power,  planted  by 
Garrison  were  springing  up  in  a  splendid  crop  through 
the  North.  Much  of  the  political  anti-slavery  of  the 
times  were  the  fruit  of  his  endeavor.  Wendell  Phil 
lips  has  pointed  out  how  the  Liberty  party  was  bene 
fited  by  the  meetings  and  speeches  of  Garrisonian 
Abolitionists.  What  was  true  of  the  Liberty  party 
was  equally  true  of  Free  Soil  and  Free  Democracy. 
Although  the  little  band  remained  small,  it  was  po 
tent  in  swelling,  year  after  year,  the  anti-slavery  mem 
bership  of  all  the  parties,  Whig  and  Democratic,  as 
well  as  of  those  already  mentioned.  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin  "  might  fairly  be  classed  among  the  large  in 
direct  results  produced  by  Garrison.  "  But  "  as  Phil 
lips  justly  remarked,  "  'Uncle  Tom'  would  never 
have  been  written  had  not  Garrison  developed  the 
facts  ;  and  never  would  have  succeeded  had  he  not 
created  readers  and  purchasers."  Garrisonism  had 
become  an  influence,  a  power  that  made  for  liberty 
and  against  slavery  in  the  United  States.  It  had  be 
come  such  also  in  Great  Britain.  George  Thompson, 


352  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

writing  the  pioneer  of  the  marvelous  sale  of  "  Uncle 
Tom  "  in  England,  and  of  the  unprecedented  demand 
for  anti-slavery  literature,  traced  their  source  to  his 
friend:  "Behold  the  fruit  of  your  labors,"  he  ex 
claimed,  "  and  rejoice." 

Mr.  Garrison's  pungent  characterization  of  the 
"  Union  "  at  the  dinner  of  the  Free  Democracy  as 
"  but  another  name  for  the  iron  reign  of  the  slave- 
power,"  found  almost  instant  illustration  of  its  truth 
in  the  startling  demand  of  that  power  for  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  In  1850  the  South  lost 
California,  but  it  received  at  the  time  an  advantage 
of  far-reaching  consequence,  viz.,  the  admission  of 
the  principle  of  federal  non-intervention  upon  the 
subject  of  slavery  in  the  national  Territories  into  the 
bill  organizing  Territorial  Governments  for  New  Mex 
ico  and  Utah.  The  train  which  was  to  blow  down 
the  slave  wall  of  1820  and  open  to  slave  immigration 
the  northern  half  of  the  Louisiana  Territory,  was  laid 
in  the  compromise  measures  of  1850. 

Calhoun,  strongly  dissatisfied  as  he  was  with  the 
Missouri  settlement,  recoiled  from  countenancing  any 
agitation  on  the  part  of  the  South  looking  to  its 
repeal  on  the  ground  that  such  action  was  calculated 
to  disturb  "  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  Union." 
But  four  years  after  the  death  of  the  great  nullifier, 
his  disciples  and  followers  dared  to  consummate  a 
crime,  the  consequences  of  which  he  shrank  from 
inviting.  The  political  conditions  four  years  had 
indeed  modified  in  one  important  particular  at  least. 
In  Calhoun's  lifetime,  there  was  no  Northern  leader 
bold  enough  to  undertake  to  engineer  an  act  of  abro 
gation  through  Congress.  If  the  North  were  willing, 


THE    TURNING     OF    A    LONG    LANE.  353 

possessed  sufficient  magnanimity,  to  surrender,  in  the 
interest  of  brotherly  love  between  the  sections,  the 
benefits  which  inured  to  it  under  the  Missouri  Com 
promise,  neither  Calhoun  nor  the  South  would  have 
declined  the  proffered  sacrifice.  The  selection  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  1854  as  the  leader  of  the 
movement  for  repeal  put  a  new  face  on  the  business, 
which  was  thereby  made  to  appear  to  proceed  from 
the  free,  not  from  the  slave  States.  This  was 
adroit,  the  fixing  upon  the  losing  section  the  initia 
tive  and  the  responsibility  of  the  act  of  abroga 
tion. 

Besides  this  element,  there  was  another  not  less 
specious  which  lent  to  the  scheme  an  air  of  fairness, 
and  that  was  the  application  to  the  Territories  of  the 
American  principle  of  local  self-government,  in  other 
words,  the  leaving  to  the  people  of  the  Territories  the 
right  to  vote  slavery  up  or  vote  it  down,  as  they 
might  elect.  The  game  was  a  deep  one,  worthy  of 
the  machinations  of  its  Northern  and  Southern 
authors.  But,  like  other  elaborate  schemes  of  mice 
and  men,  it  went  to  pieces  under  the  fatal  stroke  of 
an  unexpected  circumstance.  The  act  which  abro 
gated  the  Missouri  Compromise  broke  the  much- 
enduring  back  of  Northern  patience  at  the  same 
time.  In  the  struggle  for  the  repeal  Southern  Whigs 
and  Southern  Democrats  forgot  their  traditionary 
party  differences  in  battling  for  Southern  interests, 
which  was  not  more  or  less  than  the  extension  to 
the  national  Territories  of  the  peculiar  institution. 
The  final  recognition  of  this  ugly  fact  on  the  part  of 
the  free  States,  raised  a  popular  flood  in  them  big 
enough  to  whelm  the  Whig  party  and  to  float  a  great 


354  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

political  organization,  devoted  to  uncompromising 
opposition  to  the  farther  extension  of  slavery.  The 
sectionalism  of  slavery  was  at  last  met  by  the  section 
alism  of  freedom.  From  that  moment  the  old  Union, 
with  its  slave  compromises,  was  doomed.  In  the 
conflict  then  impending  its  dissolution  was  merely 
a  matter  of  time,  unless  indeed  the  North  should 
prove  strong  enough  to  preserve  it  by  the  might  of  its 
arms,  seeing  that  the  North  still  clung  passionately  to 
the  idea  of  national  unity. 

Not  so,  however,  was  it  with  Garrison.  Sharper 
and  sterner  rose  his  voice  against  any  union  with 
slaveholders.  On  the  Fourth  of  July  following  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  reformer  at 
Framingham,  Mass.,  gaye  a  fresh  and  startling  sign 
of  his  hatred  of  the  Union  by  burning  publicly  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Before  doing  so 
however,  he  consigned  to  the  flames  a  copy  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  next  the  decision  of  Judge  Lor- 
ing  remanding  Anthony  Burns  to  slavery,  also  the 
charge  of  Judge  Benjamin  R.  Curtis  to  the  Grand 
Jury  touching  the  assault  upon  the  court-house  for  the 
rescue  of  Burns.  Then  holding  up  the  United  States 
Constitution,  he  branded  it  as  the  source  and  parent 
of  all  the  other  atrocities — a  covenant  with  death 
and  an  agreement  with  hell — and  consumed  it  to 
ashes  on  the  spot,  exclaiming,  "  So  perish  all  com 
promises  with  tyranny  !  And  let  all  the  people  say, 
Amen  !  "  This  dramatic  act  and  the  "  tremendous 
shout  "  which  "  went  up  to  heaven  in  ratification  of 
the  deed"  from  the  assembled  multitude,  what  were 
they  but  the  prophecy  of  a  fiercer  fire  already  burn 
ing  in  the  land,  soon  to  blaze  about  the  pillars  of  the 


THE  TURNING  OF  A  LONG  LANE.        355 

Union,  of   a   more  tremendous   shout  soon  to  burst 
with  the  wrath  of  a  divided  people  over  that 

"perfidious  bark 
Built  i'  th'  eclipse,  and  rigged  with  curses  dark." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

FACE    TO    FACE. 

FACE  to  face  at  last  were  freedom  and  slavery. 
The  final  struggle  between  them  for  mastery  had 
come.  Narrow,  indeed,  was  the  issue  that  divided 
the  combatants,  slavery  extension  on  the  one  side, 
and  slavery  restriction  on  the  other,  not  total  and 
immediate  emancipation,  but  it  was  none  the  less 
vital  and  supreme  to  the  two  enemies.  Back  of  the 
Southern  demand  for  "  More  slave  soil  "  stood  a  solid 
South,  back  of  the  Northern  position,  "  No  more  slave 
soil  "  was  rallying  a  fast  uniting  North.  The  political 
revolution,  produced  by  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill, 
advanced  apace  through  the  free  States  from  Maine 
to  Michigan.  A  flood-tide  of  Northern  resistance 
had  suddenly  risen  against  the  slave-power. 

Higher  than  anywhere  else  rose  this  flood-tide  in 
Massachusetts.  The  judge  who  remanded  Anthony 
Burns  to  slavery  was  removed  from  office,  and  a  Per 
sonal  Liberty  Law,  with  provisions  as  bold  as  they 
were  thorough,  enacted  for  the  protection  of  fugitive 
slaves.  Mr.  Garrison  sat  beside  the  President  of  the 
State  Senate  when  that  body  voted  to  remove  Judge 
Loring  from  his  office.  Such  was  Massachusetts's 
answer  to  the  abrogation  of  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise,  and  a  triumphant  slave-power.  Its  instant 

(356) 


FACE    TO    FACE.  357 

effect  was  to  accelerate  in  the  South  the  action  of  the 
disunion  working  forces  there,  to  hurry  the  inevi 
table  moment  when  the  two  sections  would  rush 
together  in  a  death-grapple  within  or  without  Web 
ster's  once  glorious  Union. 

Indeed  the  foes  had  already  closed  in  a  frightful 
wrestle  for  the  possession  of  Kansas.  When  the 
National  Government  adopted  the  popular  sover 
eignty  doctrine  in  solution  of  the  Territorial  problem 
between  the  two  halves  of  the  Union,  freedom  and 
slavery  thereupon  precipitated  their  forces  upon  the 
debatable  land,  and,  for  the  first  time,  the  men  of  the 
North  and  the  men  of  the  South  came  into  actual 
physical  collision  in  defence  of  their  respective  ideas 
and  institutions.  The  possession  of  land  is  nine 
points  of  the  law  among  Anglo-Saxons,  and  for  this 
immense  advantage  both  sides  flung  themselves  into 
Kansas — the  North  by  means  of  emigrant  aid  socie 
ties,  the  South  by  means  of  bands  of  Border  ruffians 
under  the  direction  of  a  United  States  Senator.  It 
was  distinctly  understood  and  ordained  in  connection 
with  the  repeal  of  the  compromise  of  1820,  that  final 
possession  of  the  Territories  then  thrown  open  to 
slave  labor  should  be  determined  by  the  people 
inhabiting  the  same.  In  the  contest  for  peopling 
Kansas  the  superior  colonizing  resources  of  the  free 
States  was  presently  made  manifest.  They,  in  any 
fair  contest  with  ballots,  had  a  majority  of  the  polls, 
and  were,  therefore,  able  to  vote  slavery  down. 
Worsted  as  the  South  clearly  was  in  a  show  of  heads, 
it  threw  itself  back  upon  fraud  and  force  to  decide 
the  issue  in  its  favor.  The  cartridge-box  took  the 
place  of  the  ballot-box  in  bleeding  Kansas,  and  vio- 


358  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

lence  and  anarchy,  as  a  consequence,  reigned  therein 
for  the  space  of  several  years. 

This  is  no  place  to  depict  those  scenes  of  slave-hold 
ing  outrages,  supported  as  they  were  by  a  Northern 
President  with  Southern  principles.  The  sight  of 
them  rapidly  changed  the  pacific  character  of  the 
free  States.  Many  a  peace  man  dropped  his  peace 
principles  before  this  bloody  duel  between  the  civili 
zation  of  the  South  and  that  of  the  North.  Ministers 
and  churches  took  up  collections  to  send,  not  Bibles, 
but  Sharp's  rifles  to  their  brethren  in  Kansas.  The 
South  had  appealed  to  the  sword,  and  the  North  had 
sternly  accepted  the  challenge.  War  was  in  the  air, 
and  the  Northern  temper,  without  there  being  any 
general  consciousness  of  it,  was  fast  mounting  to  the 
war  point  in  the  thermometer  of  the  passions,  thanks 
to  the  perfidy  and  ruffianism  of  the  slave-power  in 
Congress  and  Kansas. 

This  trend  and  strong  undertow  of  the  nation 
toward  a  civil  outbreak  and  commotion,  though 
unnoted  by  the  multitude,  was  yet,  nevertheless,  seen 
and  felt  by  many  thoughtful  and  far-seeing  minds  ; 
and  by  no  one  more  clearly  than  by  T.  W.  Higgin- 
son,  who  at  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  Boston 
mob,  discoursed  thus  on  this  head:  "Mr.  Phillips 
told  us  that  on  this  day,  twenty  years  ago,  the  mili 
tary  could  not  protect  the  meeting,  because  the  guns 
were  outside  in  the  mob — or  the  men  who  should 
have  carried  them  !  There  has  been  a  time  since 
when  the  men  were  on  the  outside  and  the  guns  too  ; 
and  as  surely  as  this  earth  turns  on  its  axis,  that  time 
will  come  again  !  And  it  is  for  you,  men,  who 
hear  me,  to  think  what  you  will  do  when  that  time 


FACE    TO    FACE.  359 

comes  ;  and  it  is  for  you,  women,  who  hear  me,  to 
think  what  you  will  do,  and  what  you  are  willing — I 
will  not  say,  to  consent  that  those  you  love  should  do, 
but  what  you  are  willing  to  urge  them  to  do,  and  to 
send  them  from  your  homes,  knowing  that  they  will 
do  it,  whether  they  live  or  die."  The  murderous 
assault  upon  Charles  Sumner  in  the  Senate  Chamber 
at  Washington  by  Preston  S.  Brooks,  served  to  in 
tensify  the  increasing  belligerancy  of  the  Northern 
temper,  to  deepen  the  spreading  conviction  that  the 
irrepressible  conflict  would  be  settled  not  with  the 
pen  through  any  more  fruitless  compromises,  but  in 
Anglo-Saxon  fashion  by  blood  and  iron. 

Amid  this  general  access  of  the  fighting  pro 
pensity,  Garrison  preserved  the  integrity  of  his  non- 
resistant  principles,  his  aversion  to  the  use  of  physical 
force  as  an  anti-slavery  weapon.  Men  like  Charles 
Stearns  talked  of  shouldering  their  Sharp's  rifles 
against  the  Border  ruffians  as  they  would  against  wild 
beasts.  For  himself,  he  could  not  class  any  of  his 
fellow-creatures,  however  vicious  and  wicked,  on  the 
same  level  with  wild  beasts.  Those  wretches  were, 
he  granted,  as  bad  and  brutal  as  they  were  repre 
sented  by  the  free  State  men  of  Kansas,  but  to  him 
they  were  less  blameworthy  than  were  their  employ 
ers  and  indorsers,  the  pro-slavery  President  and  his 
Cabinet,  pro-slavery  Congressmen,  and  judges,  and 
doctors  of  divinity,  and  editors.  Incomparably  guilty 
as  these  "  colossal  conspirators  against  the  liberty, 
peace,  happiness,  and  safety  of  the  republic  "  were  ; 
and,  though  his  moral  indignation  "  against  their 
treasonable  course"  burned  like  fire,  he,  nevertheless, 
wished  them  no  harm.  He  shrank  from  the  idea  of 


360  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  physical  collision  of  man  with  A  brother  man, 
and  with  him  all  mankind  were  brothers.  No  one  is 
able  to  draw  a  sword  or  point  a  rifle  at  any  member 
of  the  human  family,  "in  a  Christian  state  of  mind." 
He  held  to  Jesus,  who  condemned  violence,  forbade 
the  entertainment  by  his  disciples  of  retaliatory  feel 
ings  and  the  use  of  retaliatory  weapons.  When  Jesus 
said  "  Love  your  enemies,"  he  did  not  mean,  "  Kill 
them  if  they  go  too  far." 

Garrison's  moral  radicalism  and  political  sagacity 
were  never  exhibited  to  better  advantage  than  during 
these  tremendous  years  of  the  crisis.  He  saw  the 
sudden  rise  of  a  great  political  organization  opposed 
to  the  farther  extension  of  slavery  to  national  terri 
tory.  It  was  by  no  means  a  party  after  his  heart,  and 
for  total  and  immediate  emancipation,  and  the  disso 
lution  of  the  Union,  yet  he  perceived  that  while  this 
was  true,  it  was,  nevertheless,  in  its  narrow  purpose, 
battling  against  the  slave-power,  fighting  the  slave 
system,  and  to  this  extent  was  worthy  of  the  commen 
dation  of  Abolitionists.  "  It  helps  to  disseminate  no 
small  amount  of  light  and  knowledge,"  the  reformer 
acutely  observed,  "  in  regard  to  the  nature  and  work 
ings  of  the  slave  system,  being  necessitated  to  do 
this  to  maintain  its  position  ;  and  thus,  for  the  time 
being,  it  is  moulding  public  sentiment  in  the  right 
direction,  though  with  no  purpose  to  aid  us  in  the 
specific  work  we  are  striving  to  accomplish,  namely, 
the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  the  abolition  of 
slavery  throughout  the  land."  While  bating  no  jot 
of  his  anti-slavery  principles,  he  all  the  same  put  in 
practice  the  apostolic  injunction  to  give  credit  to 
whom  credit  is  due,  by  cordially  commending  what 


FACE    TO    FACE.  361 

he  found  worthy  of  commendation  in  the  purpose 
and  policy  of  the  Republican  party,  and  by  urging  a 
like  conduct  upon  his  followers.  In  the  Presidential 
canvass  of  1856  his  sympathies  went  strongly  with 
Fremont  as  against  Buchanan  and  Fillmore,  although 
his  Abolition  principles  precluded  him  from  voting 
for  the  Republican  candidate  or  from  urging  his  dis 
ciples  to  vote  for  him.  But,  barring  this  moral  bar 
rier,  had  he  "a  million  votes  to  bestow"  he  "would 
cast  them  all  for  Fremont  .  .  .  not  because  he  is  an 
Abolitionist  or  a  Disunionist  .  .  .  but  because  he  is 
for  the  non-extension  of  slavery,  in  common  with  the 
great  body  of  the  people  of  the  North,  whose  attach 
ment  to  the  Union  amounts  to  idolatry." 

When  the  election  was  over  the  motto  of  the  Liber 
ator  was  still  "  No  union  with  slaveholders,"  and 
would  have  remained  the  same  though  Fremont  in 
stead  of  Buchanan  had  triumphed  at  the  polls,  until 
indeed  the  domination  of  the  slave-power  had  ended, 
and  the  North  and  the  National  Constitution  had 
been  divorced  from  all  criminal  connection  with  slav 
ery.  The  anti-slavery  agitation  for  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union  went  on  with  increased  zeal.  A  State  con 
vention,  called  by  T.  W.  Higginson  and  others,  "  to 
consider  the  practicability,  probability,  and  expedi 
ency  of  a  separation  between  the  free  and  slave  States, 
and  to  take  such  other  measures  as  the  condition  of  the 
times  may  require,"  met  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  Janu 
ary  15,  1857,  with  Frank  W.  Bird  in  the  chair,  and 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  among  the  vice-presidents. 
The  pioneer's  speech  on  the  occasion  was  a  character 
istic  and  noteworthy  utterance.  Its  tone  throughout 
was  grave  and  argumentative.  Here  is  a  specimen 


362  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

of  it,  and  of  the  way  in  which  he  met  the  most  ser 
ous  objection  to  the  Abolition  movement  for  disunion  : 
"  The  air  is  filled  with  objections  to  a  movement  of  this 
kind.  I  am  neither  surprised  nor  disquieted  at  this. 
One  of  these  is  of  a  very  singular  nature,  and  it  is 
gravely  urged  that  it  is  conclusive  against  disunion. 
It  is  to  this  effect:  We  must  remain  in  the  Unioi 
because  it  would  be  inhuman  in  us  to  turn  our  backs 
upon  millions  of  slaves  in  the  Southern  States,  and  t:> 
leave  them  to  their  fate  !  Men  who  have  never  beei 
heard  of  in  the  anti-slavery  ranks,  or  who  are  ever 
submitting  to  a  compromise  of  principle,  have  their 
bowels  wonderfully  moved  all  at  once  with  sympathy 
for  the  suffering  slave!  Even  our  esteemed  friend, 
Theodore  Parker  (who  deals  in  no  cant)  says,  in  his 
letter,  that  he  cannot  consent  to  cut  himself  off  from 
the  slave  population.  Now,  we  who  are  engaged  in 
this  movement  claim  to  be  equally  concerned  for  the 
liberation  of  the  slave.  If  we  have  not  yet  proved  our 
willingness  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things,  rather  than 
turn  and  flee,  God  knows  that  we  are  prepared  to 
bear  any  new  cross  that  He,  in  His  Providence,  may 
be  disposed  to  lay  upon  us.  For  one,  I  make  no  pa 
rade  of  my  anxiety  for  the  deliverance  of  those  in  bon 
dage  ;  but  I  do  say  that  it  strikes  me  as  remarkable 
that  those  who,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  have  borne 
the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day,  should  have  the  im 
putation  cast  upon  them  of  intending  to  leave  four 
millions  of  slaves  in  their  chains,  by  seeking  the  over 
throw  of  this  Union  !  .  .  . 

"...  I  declare  that  this  talk  of  leaving  the  slave 
to  his  fate  is  not  a  true  representation  of  the  case  ; 
and  it  indicates  a  strange  dullness  of  comprehension 


FACE    TO    FACE.  363 

with  regard  to  our  position  and  purpose.  What  !  Is 
it  to  forsake  the  slave  when  I  cease  to  be  the  aider 
and  abettor  of  his  master  ?  What  !  When  the  North 
is  pressing  down  upon  four  millions  of  slaves  like  an 
avalanche,  and  we  say  to  her,  *  Take  off  that  pressure 
— stand  aside— give  the  slave  a  chance  to  regain  his 
feet  and  assert  his  freedom  ! '  is  that  turning  our 
backs  upon  him  ?  Here,  for  example,  is  a  man  en 
gaged  in  high  way  robbery,  and  another  man  is  acting 
as  an  accessory,  without  whose  aid  the  robber  cannot 
succeed.  In  saying  to  the  accomplice.  '  Hands  off ! 
Don't  aid  the  villain  !  '  shall  I  be  told  that  this  is  en 
abling  the  highwayman  to  rob  with  impunity  ?  What 
an  absurdity  !  Are  we  not  trying  to  save  the  pockets 
of  all  travelers  from  being  picked  in  seeking  to  break 
up  all  connection  with  highway  robbery  ?" 

The  convention  projected  a  general  convention  of 
the  free  States  to  consider  the  subject,  and  "  Re- 
wlved,  That  the  sooner  the  separation  takes  place, 
the  more  peaceful  it  will  be;  but  that  peace  or  war  is 
a  secondary  consideration  in  view  of  our  present  perils. 
Slavery  must  be  conquered,  peaceably  if  we  can,  for 
cibly  if  we  must."  The  projected  general  convention, 
owing  to  the  monetary  crisis  of  1857,  did  not  take 
place;  but  the  extraordinary  public  excitement  on 
the  slavery  question  increased  rather  than  diminished 
during  the  year.  The  increasing  menace  to  the  domi 
nation  of  the  slave-power  from  this  source  had  be 
come  so  great  that  it  was  deemed  prudent  on  the 
part  of  the  upholders  of  that  power  to  allay  it  by 
means  of  an  authoritative  utterance  upon  the  vexed 
question  of  slavery  in  the  national  Territories  from 
the  highest  judicial  tribunal  in  the  land,  The  North- 


364  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

ern  respect  for  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the 
South  and  her  allies  in  the  free  States  counted  upon 
as  the  vehicle  of  the  quieting  medicament.  For,  if 
the  Missouri  Compromise  were  pronounced  by  that 
Court  unconstitutional  and,  therefore,  ab  initio,  null 
and  void,  no  wrong  was  done  the  North  through  its 
formal  repeal  by  Congress.  The  act  of  abrogation, 
in  this  view,  added  nothing  to  the  South  which  did 
not  belong  to  it  as  well  before  as  after  its  passage, 
detracted  nothing  from  the  North  which  was  justly 
its  due  in  the  premises.  In  pursuance  of  this  cun 
ningly  devised  scheme  the  Supreme  Court  delivered 
itself  of  an  opinion  in  the  famous  "  Dred  Scott  Case." 
So  abhorrent  it  was  to  the  intelligence  and  moral  sense 
of  the  free  States,  that  it  produced  results  altogether 
opposed  to  those  designed  by  the  men  who  invoked 
it.  Instead  of  checking,  the  execrated  judgment 
augmented  enormously  the  existing  excitement.  Gar 
rison's  bitter  taunt  that  "  the  Union  is  but  another 
name  for  the  iron  reign  of  the  slave-power,"  was 
driven  home  to  the  North,  by  the  Dred  Scott  decision, 
with  the  logic  of  another  unanswerable  fact.  Con 
fidence  in  the  independence  and  impartiality  of  the 
Supreme  Court  was  seriously  shaken,  and  widespread 
suspicion  struck  root  at  the  North  touching  the  sub 
serviency  of  that  tribunal  to  the  interests  and  designs 
of  the  slave-power. 

The  popular  agitation  at  this  fresh  and  alarming 
evidence  of  the  purpose  and  power  of  the  South  upset 
the  machinations  of  the  schemers,  swelled  the  numeri 
cal  strength  of  the  new  Northern  party  opposed  to 
the  Territorial  aggressions  and  pretensions  of  the 
slave  section.  So  rapid  was  the  growth  of  the  Re- 


FACE   TO    PACE.  365 

publican  party  that  the  slave  leaders  anticipated  its 
accession  to  power  at  the  then  next  Presidential  elec 
tion.  So  certain  were  they  in  their  forebodings  of  de 
feat  that  they  set  about  in  dead  earnest  to  put  their 
side  of  the  divided  house  in  order  for  the  impending 
struggle  for  Southern  independence.  Military  prepa 
rations  went  forward  with  a  vengeance,  arms  and 
munitions  of  war  which  were  the  property  of  the 
General  Government  began  to  move  southward,  to 
Southern  military  depots  and  posts  for  the  defence  of 
the  United  States  South,  when  at  last  the  word 
"  DISUNION  "  should  be  pronounced  over  the  Re 
public.  The  Lincoln-Douglass  debate  augmented 
everywhere  the  excitement,  fed  the  already  mighty 
numbers  of  the  new  party.  More  and  more  the  pub 
lic  consciousness  and  conviction  were  squaring  with 
Mr.  Lincoln's  oracular  words  in  respect  that  the 
Union  could  not  "  endure  permanently  half  slave  and 
half  free." 

The  darkness  and  tumult  of  the  rising  tempest 
were  advancing  apace,  when  suddenly  there  burst 
from  the  national  firmanent  the  first  warning  peal  of 
thunder,  and  over  Virginia  there  sped  the  first  bolt  of 
the  storm.  John  Brown  with  his  brave  little  band, 
at  Harper's  Ferry,  had  struck  for  the  freedom  of  the 
slave.  Tired  of  words,  the  believer  in  blood  and  iron 
as  a  deliverer,  had  crossed  from  Pennsylvania  into 
Virginia  on  the  evening  of  October  16,  1859,  anc^ 
seized  the  United  States  Armory  at  Harper's  Ferry. 
Although  soon  overpowered,  captured,  tried,  and 
hanged  for  his  pains  by  the  slave-power,  the  martyr  had 
builded  better  than  he  knew.  For  the  blow  struck  by 
him  then  and  there  ended  almost  abruptly  the  period 


366  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

of  argument  and  ushered  in  the  period  of  arms.  Th-i 
jar  from  that  battle-ax  at  the  roots  of  the  slave  sys 
tem  hurled  together  in  a  death  struggle  right  and 
wrong,  freedom  and  slavery,  in  the  republic. 

This  attempt  on  the  part  of  John  Brown  to  liberate 
the  slaves  seemed  to  Garrison  "  misguided,  wild,  and 
apparently  insane,  though  disinterested  and  well- 
intended."  On  non-resistant  grounds  he  deplored 
this  use  of  the  sword  to  effect  emancipation,  and  con 
demned  the  leader.  But,  judging  him  according  to 
the  standard  of  Bunker  Hill  and  the  men  of  1776,  he 
did  not  doubt  that  Brown  deserved  "  to  be  held  in 
grateful  and  honorable  remembrance  to  the  latest  pos 
terity,  by  all  those  who  glory  in  the  deeds  of  a  Wal 
lace  or  Tell,  a  Washington  or  Warren." 

The  raid  of  Brown  and  his  subsequent  execution, 
and  their  reception  at  the  North  revealed  how  vasi; 
was  the  revolution  in  public  sentiment  on  the  slavery 
question  which  had  taken  place  there,  since  the-, 
murder  of  Lovejoy,  eighteen  years  before.  Lovejoy 
died  defending  the  right  of  free  speech  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press,  yet  the  Attorney-General  of 
Massachusetts  declared  that  "  he  died  as  the  fool 
dieth."  Brown  died  in  an  invasion  of  a  slave  State, 
and  in  an  effort  to  emancipate  the  slaves  with  a  band 
of  eighteen  followers,  and  he  was  acclaimed,  from  one 
end  of  the  free  States  to  the  other,  hero  and  martyr. 
Mr.  Garrison  commenting  on  this  immensely  signifi 
cant  fact,  acutely  and  justly  observed  that :  "  The 
sympathy  and  admiration  now  so  widely  felt  for  him, 
prove  how  marvelous  has  been  the  change  affected  in 
public  opinion  during  the  thirty  years  of  moral 
agitation — a  change  so  great  indeed,  that  whereas, 


FACE    TO    FACE.  367 

ten  years  since,  there  were  thousands  who  could  not 
endure  my  lightest  word  of  rebuke  of  the  South,  they 
can  now  easily  swallow  John  Brown  whole  and  his 
rifle  into  the  bargain.  In  firing  his  gun,  he  has 
merely  told  us  what  time  of  day  it  is.  It  is  high  noon, 
thank  God  !  " 

But  there  is  another  circumstance  hardly  less  sig 
nificant  of  another  change  at  the  North  even  more 
momentous  than  the  one  just  noted. 

On  December  2d,  the  day  on  which  Brown  was 
hung,  solemn  funeral  observances  were  held  through 
out  the  North  by  Abolitionists.  At  the  great  meet 
ing  in  Boston,  held  in  Tremont  Temple,  and  presided 
over  by  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  Garrison  inquired  as  to  the 
number  of  non-resistants  who  were  present.  To  this 
question  there  came  a  solitary  reply.  There  was  but 
one  non-resistant  beside  himself  in  the  hall.  Where 
were  his  followers  ?  Why  had  they  forsaken  their 
principles  ?  The  tide  of  Northern  belligerency,  which 
was  everywhere  rising  to  its  flood,  everywhere  rush 
ing  and  mounting  to  the  tops  of  those  dams  which 
separate  war  and  peace  had  swept  away  his  fol 
lowers,  had  caused  them  to  forsake  their  principles. 
True  to  their  Anglo-Saxon  instinct,  they  had  re 
verted  to  the  more  human,  if  less  Christian  method 
of  cutting  the  Gordian  knot  of  the  republic  with  the 
sword. 

The  irresistible  drift  of  the  North  toward  the  point 
where  peace  ends  and  war  begins,  which  that  solitary 
"  I "  at  the  John  Brown  meeting  denoted,  was  still 
further  indicated  by  what  appeared  not  wholly  unlike 
a  change  in  Mr.  Garrison's  attitude  on  the  same  sub 
ject.  His  non-resistant  position  was  the  same,  but 


368  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

somehow  his  face  seemed  to  turn  warward  too,  with 
the  rest  of  the  nation,  in  the  following  passage  take  i 
from  his  address  at  that  John  Brown  meeting  : 

"  Nevertheless,  I  am  a  non-resistant,"  said  he, 
speaking  to  that  solitary  confession  of  non-resistance 
principles,  "and  I  not  only  desire,  but  have  labored 
unremittingly  to  effect  the  peaceful  abolition  of  slav 
ery,  by  an  appeal  to  the  reason  and  conscience  of  the 
slaveholder;  yet,  as  a  peace  man,  an  ultra  peace 
man,  I  am  prepared  to  say  :  Success  to  every  slave 
insurrection  at  the  South,  and  in  every  slave  countr). 
And  I  do  not  see  how  I  compromise  or  stain  my  peace 
profession  in  making  that  declaration.  Whenever 
there  is  a  contest  between  the  oppressed  and  the 
oppressor,  the  weapons  being  equal  between  the  par 
ties,  God  knows  that  my  heart  must  be  with  the 
oppressed,  and  always  against  the  oppressor.  There 
fore,  whenever  commenced,  I  cannot  but  wish  success 
to  all  slave  insurrections.  .  .  .  Rather  than  see  men 
wearing  their  chains,  in  a  cowardly  and  servile  spirit, 
I  would  as  an  advocate  of  peace,  much  rather  see  them 
breaking  the  head  of  the  tyrant  with  their  chains. 
Give  me,  as  a  non-resistant,  Bunker  Hill,  and  Lex 
ington,  and  Concord,  rather  than  the  cowardice  and 
servility  of  a  Southern  slave  plantation." 

The  unmistakable  signs  of  disintegration,  the  swift 
action  of  the  national  tragedy,  the  Charleston  Con 
vention,  the  disruption  of  the  Democratic  party,  the 
last  bond  between  the  North  and  the  South,  filled 
the  heart  of  the  pioneer  with  solemn  joy.  "  Only 
think  of  it  !  "  he  exulted  at  the  anniversary  of  the 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  New  York,  May  8, 
1860  ;  "only  think  of  it  !  the  party  which  has  for  so 


FACE    TO    FACE.  369 

many  years  cried  out,  '  There  must  be  no  agitation  on 
this  subject '  is  now  the  most  agitated  of  all  the 
parties  in  the  country.  The  party  which  declares  that 
there  ought  not  to  be  any  sectionalism  as  against 
slavery,  has  now  been  sundered  geographically,  and 
on  this  very  question  !  The  party  which  had  said, 
'  Let  discussions  cease  forever,'  is  busily  engaged  in 
the  discussion,  so  that,  possibly,  the  American  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  might  adjourn  sine  die,  after  we  get 
through  with  our  present  meetings,  and  leave  its  work 
to  be  carried  on  in  the  other  direction  !"  This  was  all 
true  enough.  The  sections  were  at  last  sundered, 
and  a  day  of  wrath  was  rising  dark  and  dreadful  over 
"States  dissevered,  discordant,  belligerent." 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE    DEATH-GRAPPLE. 

THE  triumph  of  the  Republican  party  at  the  polls 
was  the  signal  for  the  work  of  dissolution  to  begin, 
Webster's  terrific  vision  of  "  a  land  rent  with  civL 
feuds "  became  reality  in  the  short  space  of  sis 
weeks  after  Lincoln's  election,  by  the  secession  oi 
South  Carolina  from  the  Union.  Quickly  other 
Southern  States  followed,  until  a  United  States  South 
was  organized,  the  chief  stone  in  the  corner  of  the 
new  political  edifice  being  Negro  slavery.  It  was  not 
six  weeks  after  the  inauguration  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
when  the  roar  of  cannon  in  Charleston  Harbor  an 
nounced  to  the  startled  country  that  war  between  the 
States  had  begun.  The  first  call  of  the  new  Presi 
dent  for  troops  to  put  down  the  rebellion  and  to  save 
the  Union,  and  the  patriotic  uprising  which  it  evoked 
made  it  plain  that  the  struggle  thus  opened  was  to 
be  nothing  less  than  a  death-grapple  between  the  two 
sections. 

Before  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  Garrison  was 
opposed  to  coercing  the  rebel  States  back  into  the 
Union.  He  admitted  the  Constitutional  power  of 
the  National  Government  to  employ  force  in  main 
taining  the  integrity  of  the  Republic.  "  The  Federal 
Government  must  not  pretend  to  be  in  actual  opera 
tion,  embracing  thirty-four  States,"  the  editor  of  the 

(370) 


THE   DEATH-GRAPPLE.  371 

Liberator  commented,  "  and  then  allow  the  seceding 
States  to  trample  upon  its  flag,  steal  its  property,  and 
defy  its  authority  with  impunity  ;  for  it  would  then 
be  (as  it  is  at  this  moment)  a  mockery  and  a  laughing 
stock.  Nevertheless  to  think  of  whipping  the  South 
(for  she  will  be  a  unit  on  the  question  of  slavery)  into 
subjection,  and  extorting  allegiance  from  millions  of 
people  at  the  cannon's  mouth,  is  utterly  chimerical. 
True,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  North  to  deluge  her 
soil  with  blood,  and  inflict  upon  her  the  most  terrible 
sufferings  ;  but  not  to  conquer  her  spirit,  or  change 
her  determination." 

He,  therefore,  proposed  that  "  the  people  of  the 
North  should  recognize  the  fact  that  THE  UNION  is  DIS 
SOLVED,  and  act  accordingly.  They  should  see,  in 
the  madness  of  the  South,  the  hand  of  God,  liberat 
ing  them  from  l  a  covenant  with  death'  and  an  *  agree 
ment  with  hell/  made  in  a  time  of  terrible  peril,  and 
without  a  conception  of  its  inevitable  consequences, 
and  which  has  corrupted  their  morals,  poisoned  their 
religion,  petrified  their  humanity  as  towards  the  mill 
ions  in  bondage,  tarnished  their  character,  harassed 
their  peace,  burdened  them  with  taxation,  shackled 
their  prosperity,  and  brought  them  into  abject 
vassalage." 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Garrison,  under 
the  circumstances,  was  for  speeding  the  South  rather 
than  obstructing  her  way  out  of  the  Union.  For 
hardly  ever  had  the  anti-slavery  cause  seen  greater 
peril  than  that  which  hung  over  it  during  the  months 
which  elapsed  between  Lincoln's  election  and  the 
attack  on  Sumter,  owing  to  the  paralyzing  apprehen 
sions  to  which  the  free  States  fell  a  prey  in  view  of  the 


372  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

then  impending  disruption  of  their  glorious  Union. 
Indeed  no  sacrifice  of  anti-slavery  accomplishments, 
policy,  and  purpose  of  those  States  were  esteemed  too 
important  or  sacred  to  make,  if  thereby  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union  might  be  averted.  Many,  Republi 
cans  as  well  as  Democrats,  were  for  repealing  the 
Personal  Liberty  Laws,  and  for  the  admission  of 
New  Mexico  as  a  State,  with  or  without  slavery,  for 
the  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  for  sup 
pressing  the  right  of  free  speech  and  the  freedom  of 
the  press  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  for  surrender 
ing  the  Northern  position  in  opposition  to  the  exten 
sion  of  slavery  to  national  Territories,  in  order  to 
placate  the  South  and  keep  it  in  the  Union.  Noth 
ing  could  have  possibly  been  more  disastrous  to  the 
anti-slavery  movement  in  America  than  a  Union 
saved  on  the  terms  proposed  by  such  Republican 
leaders  as  Williarr\H.  Seward,  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
Thomas  Corwin,  and  Andrew  G.  Curtin.  The  Union, 
under  the  circumstances,  was  sure  death  to  the  slave, 
in  disunion  lay  his  great  life-giving  hope.  There 
fore  his  tried  and  sagacious  friend  was  for  sacrificing 
the  Union  to  win  for  him  freedom. 

As  the  friends  of  the  Union  were  disposed  to  haggle 
at  no  price  to  preserve  it,  so  was  Garrison  disposed 
to  barter  the  Union  itself  in  exchange  for  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery.  "  Now,  then,  let  there  be  a  CONVEN 
TION  OF  THE  FREE  STATES,"  he  suggested,  "called  to 
organize  an  independent  government  on  free  and 
just  principles  ;  and  let  them  say  to  the  slave  States  : 
Though  you  are  without  excuse  for  your  treason 
able  conduct,  depart  in  peace  !  Though  you  have 
laid  piratical  hands  on  property  not  your  own,  we 


THE    DEATH-GRAPPLE.  373 

surrender  it  all  in  the  spirit  of  magnanimity  !  And 
if  nothing  but  the  possession  of  the  Capitol  will 
appease  you,  take  even  that  without  a  struggle  !  Let 
the  line  be  drawn  between  us  where  free  institutions 
end  and  slave  institutions  begin  !  " 

But  the  thunder  of  the  rebel  guns  in  Charleston 
Harbor  wrought  in  the  reformer  a  complete  revolu 
tion  in  this  regard.  In  the  tremendous  popular  up 
rising  which  followed  that  insult  to  the  national 
flag  he  perceived  that  the  old  order  with  its  com 
promises  and  dispositions  to  agree  to  anything,  to  do 
anything  for  the  sake  of  preserving  the  Union  had 
passed  away  forever.  When  it  was  suggested  as  an 
objection  to  his  change  of  base  that  the  "  Adminis 
tration  is  endeavoring  to  uphold  the  Union,  the  Con 
stitution,  and  the  Laws,  even  as  from  the  formation 
of  the  Government,"  he  was  not  for  a  moment  de 
ceived  by  its  apparent  force,  but  replied  sagely  that 
"  this  is  a  verbal  and  technical  view  of  the  case." 
"  Facts  are  more  potential  than  words,"  he  remarked 
with  philosophic  composure,  "  and  events  greater 
than  parchment  arrangements.  The  truth  is,  the 
old  Union  is  non  est  inventus,  and  its  restoration,  with 
its  pro-slavery  compromises,  well-nigh  impossible. 
The  conflict  is  really  between  the  civilization  of 
freedom  and  the  barbarism  of  slavery — between  the 
principles  of  democracy  and  the  doctrines  of  absolu 
tism — between  the  free  North  and  the  man-imbruting 
South  ;  therefore,  to  this  extent  hopeful  for  the  cause 
of  impartial  liberty." 

With  the  instinct  of  wise  leadership,  he  adjusted 
himself  and  his  little  band  of  Abolitionists,  as  far  as 
he  was  able,  to  the  exigencies  of  the  revolution.  In 


374  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

his  madness  there  was  always  remarkable  method. 
When  the  nation  was  apathetic,  dead  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  he  used  every  power  which  he  possessed 
or  could  invent  to  galvanize  it  into  life.  But  with  the 
prodigious  excitement  which  swept  over  the  free 
States  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Garrison  saw  that 
the  crisis  demanded  different  treatment.  Abolition 
ists  and  their  moral  machinery  he  felt  should  be  with 
drawn,  for  a  season  at  least,  from  their  conspicuous 
place  before  the  public  gaze,  lest  it  happen  that  they 
should  divert  the  current  of  public  opinion  from  the 
South  to  themselves,  and  thus  injure  the  cause  of 
the  slave.  He  accordingly  deemed  it  highly  ex 
pedient  that  the  usual  anniversary  of  the  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  held  in  New  York,  ought, 
under  the  circumstances,  to  be  postponed,  coming 
as  it  would  but  a  few  weeks  after  the  attack  on 
Sumter,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  tremendous  loyal 
uprising  against  the  rebels.  This  he  did,  adding,  by 
way  of  caution,  this  timely  counsel:  "  Let  nothing  be 
done  at  this  solemn  crisis  needlessly  to  check  or  divert 
the  mighty  current  of  popular  feeling  which  is  now 
sweeping  southward  with  the  strength  and  impetu 
osity  of  a  thousand  Niagaras,  in  direct  conflict  with 
that  haughty  and  perfidious  slave-power  which  has 
so  long  ruled  the  republic  with  a  rod  of  iron,  for  its 
own  base  and  satanic  purposes." 

The  singular  tact  and  sagacity  of  the  pioneer  in 
this  emergency  may  be  again  seen  in  a  letter  to  Oliver 
Johnson,  who  was  at  the  time  editing  the  Anti-Slavery 
Standard.  Says  the  pioneer :  "  Now  that  civil  war 
has  begun,  and  a  whirlwind  of  violence  and  excite 
ment  is  to  sweep  through  the  country,  every  day  in- 


THE    DEATH-GRAPPLE.  375 

creasing  in  interest  until  its  bloodiest  culmination,  it 
is  for  the  Abolitionists  to  '  stand  still  and  see  the  sal 
vation  of  God,'  rather  than  to  attempt  to  add  any 
thing  to  the  general  commotion.  It  is  no  time  for 
minute  criticism  of  Lincoln,  Republicanism,  or  even 
the  other  parties,  now  that  they  are  fusing,  for  a 
death-grapple  with  the  Southern  slave  oligarchy;  for 
they  are  instruments  in  the  hands  of  God  to  carry 
forward  and  help  achieve  the  great  object  of  emanci 
pation  for  which  we  have  so  long  been  striving.  .  . 
We  need  great  circumspection  and  consummate 
wisdom  in  regard  to  what  we  may  say  and  do  under 
these  unparalleled  circumstances.  We  are  rather,  for 
the  time  being,  to  note  the  events  transpiring  than 
seek  to  control  them.  There  must  be  no  needless 
turning  of  popular  violence  upon  ourselves  by  any 
false  step  of  our  own." 

The  circumspection,  the  tact,  and  sagacity  which 
marked  his  conduct  at  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion 
characterized  it  to  the  close  of  the  war,  albeit  at  no 
time  doing  or  saying  aught  to  compromise  his  anti- 
slavery  principle  of  total  and  immediate  emancipa 
tion.  On  the  contrary,  he  urged,  early  and  late,  upon 
Congress  and  the  President  the  exercise  of  the  war 
power  to  put  an  end  for  ever  to  slavery.  Radical 
Abolitionists  like  Stephen  S.  Foster  were  for  denying 
to  the  Administration  anti-slavery  support  and  coun 
tenance,  and  for  continuing  to  heap  upon  the  Gov 
ernment  their  denunciations  until  it  placed  itself 
"  openly  and  unequivocally  on  the  side  of  freedom," 
by  issuing  the  edict  of  emancipation.  Against  this 
zeal  without  discretion  Garrison  warmly  protested. 
"  I  cannot  say  that  I  do  not  sympathize  with  the  Gov- 


37^  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 

ernment,"  said  he,  "  as  against  Jefferson  Davis  and 
his  piratical  associates.  There  is  not  a  drop  of  blood 
in  my  veins,  both  as  an  Abolitionist  and  a  peace  man, 
that  does  not  flow  with  the  Northern  tide  of  senti 
ment;  for  I  see,  in  this  grand  uprising  of  the  man 
hood  of  the  North,  which  has  been  so  long  groveling 
in  the  dust,  a  growing  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
liberty  and  free  institutions,  and  a  willingness  to 
make  any  sacrifice  in  their  defence  against  the  bar 
baric  and  tyrannical  power  which  avows  its  purpose, 
if  it  can,  to  crush  them  entirely  out  of  existence. 
When  the  Government  shall  succeed  (if  it  shall  suc 
ceed)  in  conquering  a  peace,  in  subjugating  the  South, 
and  shall  undertake  to  carry  out  the  Constitution  as 
of  old,  with  all  its  pro-slavery  compromises,  then  will 
be  my  time  to  criticise,  reprove,  and  condemn  ;  then 
will  be  the  time  for  me  to  open  all  the  guns  that  I 
can  bring  to  bear  upon  it.  But  blessed  be  God  that 
*  covenant  with  death'  has  been  annulled,  and  that 
'  agreement  with  hell '  no  longer  stands.  I  joyfully 
accept  the  fact,  and  leave  all  verbal  criticism  until  a 
more  suitable  opportunity." 

But  it  must  be  confessed  that  at  times  during  the 
struggle,  Lincoln's  timidity  and  apparent  indifference 
as  to  the  fate  of  slavery,  in  his  anxiety  to  save  the 
Union,  weakened  Garrison's  confidence  in  him,  and 
excited  his  keenest  apprehensions  "  at  the  possibility 
of  the  war  terminating  without  the  utter  extinction 
of  slavery,  by  a  new  and  more  atrocious  compromise 
on  the  part  of  the  North  than  any  that  has  yet  been 
made."  The  pioneer  therefore  adjudged  it  prudent 
to  get  his  battery  into  position  and  to  visit  upon  the 
President  for  particular  acts,  such  as  the  revocation 


THE    DEATH-GRAPPLE.  377 

of  anti-slavery  orders  by  sundry  of  his  generals  in  the 
field,  and  upon  particular  members  of  his  Cabinet 
who  were  understood  to  be  responsible  for  the  shuffl 
ing,  hesitating  action  of  the  Government  in  its  rela 
tion  to  slavery,  an  effective  fire  of  criticism  and 
rebuke. 

Nevertheless  Mr.  Garrison  maintained  toward  the 
Government  a  uniform  tone  of  sympathy  and  moder 
ation.  "  I  hold,"  said  he,  in  reply  to  strictures  of  Mr. 
Phillips  upon  the  President  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Massachusetts  Society  in  1862;  "I  hold  that  it  is 
not  wise  for  us  to  be  too  microscopic  in  endeavoring 
to  find  disagreeable  and  annoying  things,  still  less  to 
assume  that  everything  is  waxing  worse  and  worse, 
and  that  there  is  little  or  no  hope."  He  himself  was  full 
of  hope  which  no  shortcomings  of  the  Government 
was  able  to  quench.  He  was  besides  beginning  to 
understand  the  perplexities  which  beset  the  adminis 
tration,  to  appreciate  the  problem  which  confronted 
the  great  statesman  who  was  at  the  head  of  the 
nation.  He  was  getting  a  clear  insight  into  the  work 
ings  of  Lincoln's  mind,  and  into  the  causes  which 
gave  to  his  political  pilotage  an  air  of  timidity  and 
indecision. 

"  Supposing  Mr.  Lincoln  could  answer  to-night,'* 
continued  the  pioneer  in  reply  to  his  less  patient  and 
hopeful  coadjutors,  "  and  we  should  say  to  him  : 
*  Sir,  with  the  power  in  your  hands,  slavery  being  the 
cause  of  the  rebellion  beyond  all  controversy,  why 
don't  you  put  the  trump  of  jubilee  to  your  lips,  and 
proclaim  universal  freedom  ?  ' — possibly  he  might 
answer :  '  Gentlemen,  I  understand  this  matter  quite 
as  well  as  you  do.  I  do  not  know  that  I  differ  in 


37^  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

opinion  from  you  ;  but  will  you  insure  me  the  sup 
port  of  a  united  North  if  I  do  as  you  bid  me  ?  Are  all 
parties  and  all  sects  at  the  North  so  convinced  and  so 
united  on  this  point  that  they  will  stand  by  the  Gov 
ernment  ?  If  so,  give  me  the  evidence  of  it,  and  I  will 
strike  the  blow.  But,  gentlemen,  looking  over  tho 
entire  North,  and  seeing  in  all  your  towns  and  cities 
papers  representing  a  considerable,  if  not  a  formid 
able  portion  of  the  people,  menacing  and  bullying  the 
Government  in  case  it  dared  to  liberate  the  slaves, 
even  as  a  matter  of  self-preservation,  I  do  not  feel 
that  the  hour  has  yet  come  that  will  render  it  safe  for 
the  Government  to  take  that  step.'  I  am  willing  to 
believe  that  something  of  this  kind  weighs  in  the 
mind  of  the  President  and  the  Cabinet,  and  that  there 
is  some  ground  for  hesitancy  as  a  mere  matter  oi 
political  expediency."  This  admirable  and  discrim 
inating  support  of  the  President  finds  another  capital 
illustration  in  weighty  words  of  his  in  answer  to  ani 
madversions  of  Prof.  Francis  W.  Newman,  of  Eng 
land,  directed  against  Mr.  Lincoln.  Says  Garrison  : 
"  In  no  instance,  however,  have  I  censured  him  (Lin 
coln)  for  not  acting  upon  the  highest  abstract  princi 
ples  of  justice  and  humanity,  and  disregarding  his 
Constitutional  obligations.  His  freedom  to  follow 
his  convictions  of  duty  as  an  individual  is  one  thing — 
as  the  President  of  the  United  States,  it  is  limited  by 
the  functions  of  his  office,  for  the  people  do  not  elect 
a  President  to  play  the  part  of  reformer  or  philan 
thropist,  nor  to  enforce  upon  the  nation  his  own 
peculiar  ethical  or  humanitary  ideas  without  regard 
to  his  oath  or  their  will." 

Great  indeed  was  the  joy  of  the  pioneer  when  Pres- 


THE    DEATH-GRAPPLE.  379 

ident  Lincoln  on  January  i,  1863,  issued  his  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation.  The  same  sagacious  and  states 
manlike  handling  of  men  and  things  distinguished 
his  conduct  after  the  edict  of  freedom  was  made  as 
before.  When  the  question  of  Reconstruction  was 
broached  in  an  administrative  initiative  in  Louis 
iana,  the  President  gave  great  offence  to  the  more 
radical  members  of  his  party,  and  to  many  Abolition 
ists  by  his  proposal  to  readmit  Louisiana  to  Statehood 
in  the  Union  with  no  provision  for  the  extension  of 
the  suffrage  to  the  negro.  This  exhibition  of  the 
habitual  caution  and  conservatism  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
brought  upon  him  a  storm  of  criticism  and  re 
monstrances,  but  not  from  Garrison.  There  was 
that  in  him  which  appreciated  and  approved  the 
evident  disposition  of  the  President  to  make  haste 
slowly  in  departing  from  the  American  principle  of 
local  self-government  even  in  the  interest  of  liberty. 
Then,  too,  he  had  his  misgivings  in  relation  to  the  vir 
tue  of  the  fiat  method  of  transforming  chattels  into 
citizens.  "  Chattels  personal  may  be  instantly  trans 
lated  from  the  auction-block*  into  freemen,"  he  re 
marked  in  defence  of  the  administrative  policy  in  the 
reconstruction  of  Louisiana,  "  but  when  were  they 
ever  taken  at  the  same  time  to  the  ballot-box,  and  in 
vested  with  all  political  rights  and  immunities  ?  Ac 
cording  to  the  laws  of  development  and  progress  it  is 
not  practicable.  .  .  .  Besides,  I  doubt  whether  he  has 
the  Constitutional  right  to  decide  this  matter.  Ever 
since  the  Government  was  organized,  the  right  of  suf 
frage  has  been  determined  by  each  State  in  the  Union 
for  itself,  so  that  there  is  no  uniformity  in  regard  to  it. 
.  ,  ,  In  honestly  seeking  to  preserve  the  Union,  it 


380  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

is  not  for  President  Lincoln  to  seek,  by  a  special 
edict  applied  to  a  particular  State  or  locality,  to  do 
violence  to  a  universal  rule,  accepted  and  acted  upon 
from  the  beginning  till  now  by  the  States  in  their  in 
dividual  sovereignty.  .  .  .  Nor,  if  the  freed  blacks 
were  admitted  to  the  polls  by  Presidential  fiat  do  I 
see  any  permanent  advantage  likely  to  be  secured  by 
it ;  for,  submitted  to  as  a  necessity  at  the  outset,  as 
soon  as  the  State  was  organized  and  left  to  manage 
its  own  affairs,  the  white  population  with  their  supe 
rior  intelligence,  wealth,  and  power,  would  unques 
tionably  alter  the  franchise  in  accordance  with  their 
prejudices,  and  exclude  those  thus  summarily  brought 
to  the  polls.  Coercion  would  gain  nothing."  A  very 
remarkable  prophecy,  which  has  since  been  exactly 
fulfilled  in  the  Southern  States.  Garrison,  however, 
in  the  subsequent  struggle  between  Congress  and  Mr. 
Lincoln's  successor  over  this  selfsame  point  in  its 
wider  relation  to  all  of  the  Southern  States,  took 
sides  against  Andrew  Johnson  and  in  favor  of  the  Con 
gressional  fiat  method  of  transforming  chattels  per 
sonal  into  citizens.  The  elimination  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  from,  and  the  introduction  of  Andrew  Johnson 
upon  the  National  stage  at  this  juncture,  did  un 
doubtedly  effect  such  a  change  of  circumstances,  as 
to  make  the  Congressional  fiat  method  a  political  nec 
essity.  It  was  distinctly  the  less  of  two  evils  which 
at  the  moment  was  thrust  upon  the  choice  of  the 
Northern  people. 

The  same  breadth  and  liberality  of  view,  which 
marked  his  treatment  of  Mr.  Lincoln  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  emancipation  and  of  that  of  reconstruction, 
marked  his  treatment  also  of  other  questions  which 


THE    DEATH-GRAPPLE.  381 

the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  presented  to  his  con 
sideration.  Although  a  radical  peace  man,  how  just 
was  his  attitude  toward  the  men  and  the  measures 
of  the  War  for  the  Union.  Nothing  that  he  did 
evinced  on  his  part  greater  tact  or  toleration  than  his 
admirable  behavior  iy.  this  respect.  To  his  eldest  son, 
George  Thompson,  who  was  no  adherent  of  the  doc 
trine  of  non-resistance,  and  who  was  commissioned  by 
Governor  Andrew,  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  Fifty- 
fifth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  the  pioneer  wrote  ex 
pressing  his  regret  that  the  young  lieutenant  had  not 
been  able"  to  adopt  those  principles  of  peace  which 
are  so  sacred  and  divine  to  my  soul,  yet  you  will  bear 
me  witness  that  I  have  not  laid  a  straw  in  your  way 
to  prevent  your  acting  up  to  your  own  highest  con 
victions  of  duty."  Such  was  precisely  his  attitude 
toward  the  North  who,  he  believed,  in  waging  war 
against  the  South  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union, 
was  acting  up  to  her  own  highest  convictions  of  duty. 
And  not  a  straw  would  he  place  across  her  path,  under 
those  circumstances,  though  every  step  bore  witness 
to  one  of  the  most  gigantic  and  destructive  wars  in 
history. 

Garrison  did  not  have  to  wait  for  posthumous  ap 
preciation  from  his  countrymen.  His  steady  and 
discriminating  support  of  the  Government,  and  his 
ardent  sympathy  with  the  arms  of  the  North  won  him 
appreciation  in  his  lifetime.  Indeed,  there  came  to  him, 
if  not  popularity,  something  closely  akin  to  it  during 
the  war.  His  visit  to  the  capital  in  June,  1864,  well 
illustrates  the  marvelous  changes  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  Union  touching  himself  and  his  cause. 
On  his  way  to  Washington  the  pioneer  stopped  over 


382  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

at  Baltimore,  which  he  had  not  revisited 'for  thirty- 
four  years,  and  where  the  Republican  Convention, 
which  renominated  Lincoln  was  in  session.  He 
watched  the  proceedings  from  the  gallery,  and  wit 
nessed  with  indescribable  emotions  the  enthusiastic 
demonstrations  of  joy  with  which  the  whole  body  of 
delegates  greeted  the  radical  anti-slavery  resolution 
of  the  Convention.  To  the  reformer  it  was  "  a  full 
indorsement  of  all  the  Abolition  fanaticism  and 
incendiarism"  with  which  he  had  been  branded  for 
years.  The  jail  where  he  had  been  held  a  prisoner 
for  seven  weeks,  like  the  evil  which  he  had  de 
nounced,  was  gone,  and  a  new  one  stood  in  its  place, 
which  knew  not  Garrison.  In  the  court-house  where 
he  was  tried  and  sentenced  he  was  received  by  a 
United  States  judge  as  an  illustrious  visitor.  Judge 
Bond  hunted  up  the  old  indictment  against  the  junior 
editor  of  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,  where 
it  had  lain  for  a  generation,  during  which  that  guilt 
less  prisoner  had  started  a  movement  which  had 
shaken  the  nation  by  its  mighty  power,  and  slavery 
out  of  it.  "  Eight  or  nine  of  the  original  jurymen 
who  gave  the  verdict  against  Mr.  Garrison  are  still 
living,"  wrote  Theodore  Tilton,  at  the  time,  to  the 
Independent,  "  and  Judge  Bond  jocosely  threatened  to 
summon  them  all  into  Court,  that  Mr.  Garrison  might 
forgive  them  in  public." 

At  Washington  the  pioneer's  reception  seemed  to 
him  like  a  dream.  And  no  wonder.  He  was  heartily 
received  by  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Stanton. 
He  was  accorded  the  most  marked  attentions  on  the 
floor  of  both  branches  of  Congress.  On  every  side 
there  rose  up  witnesses  to  the  vastness  of  the  revolu- 


THE    DEATH-GRAPPLE.  383 

tion  which  had  taken  place,  and  to  the  fact  that  the 
great  Abolitionist  was  no  longer  esteemed  an  enemy 
of  the  Republic  but  one  of  its  illustrious  citizens. 
This  was  evinced  in  a  signal  and  memorable  manner 
a  little  later  when  the  National  Government  extended 
to  him  an  invitation  to  visit  Fort  Sumter  as  its  guest 
on  the  occasion  of  the  re-raising  over  it  of  the  Stars 
and  Stripes.  He  went,  and  so  also  went  George 
Thompson,  his  lifelong  friend  and  coadjutor,  who 
was  the  recipient  of  a  similar  invitation  from  the 
Secretary  of  War. 

This  visit  of  Mr.  Garrison,  taken  in  all  its  dramatic 
features,  is  more  like  a  chapter  of  fiction,  with  its 
strange  and  improbable  incidents  and  situations,  than 
a  story  of  real  life.  The  pioneer  entered  Georgia 
and  trod  the  streets  of  Savannah,  whose  legislature 
thirty-three  years  before  had  set  a  price  upon  his 
head.  In  Charleston  he  witnessed  the  vast  ruin  which 
the  war  had  wrought,  realized  how  tremendous  had 
been  the  death-struggle  between  Freedom  and 
Slavery,  and  saw  everywhere  he  turned  that  slavery 
was  beaten,  was  dead  in  its  proud,  rebellious  center. 
Thousands  upon  thousands  of  the  people  whose 
wrongs  he  had  made  his  own,  whose  woes  he  had 
carried  in  his  soul  for  thirty-five  years,  greeted  him, 
their  deliverer,  in  all  stages  of  joy  and  thanksgiving. 
They  poured  out  at  his  feet  their  overflowing  love  and 
gratitude.  They  covered  him  with  flowers,  bunches 
of  jessamines,  and  honeysuckles  and  roses  in  the 
streets  of  Charleston,  hard  by  the  grave  where  Cal- 
houn  lay  buried.  "  '  Only  listen  to  that  in  Charleston 
streets  ! '  exclaimed  Garrison,  on  hearing  the  band  of 
one  of  the  black  regiments  playing  the  air  of  '  Old 


384  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

John  Brown,'  and  we  both  broke  into  tears,"  relates 
Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  who  stood  by  the  side  of 
the  pioneer  that  April  morning  under  the  spire  of 
St.  Michael's  church. 

"  The  Government  has  its  hold  upon  the  throat  of 
the  monster,  slavery,"  Mr.  Garrison  assured  an  audi 
ence  of  nearly  four  thousand  freedmen,  "  and  is 
strangling  the  life  out  of  it."  It  was  even  so.  Rich 
mond  had  fallen,  and  Lee  had  surrendered.  The 
early  and  total  collapse  of  the  rebellion  was  impend 
ing.  The  Government  was,  indeed,  strangling  the 
life  out  of  it  and  out  of  slavery,  its  cause  and  main 
spring.  The  monster  had,  however,  a  crowning  hor 
ror  to  add  to  a  long  list  of  horrors  before  fetching  its 
last  gasp.  The  assassination  of  President  Lincoln 
was  the  dying  blow  of  slavery,  aimed  through  him  at 
the  Union  which  he  had  maintained.  Appalling  as 
was  the  deed,  it  was  vain,  for  the  Union  was  saved, 
and  liberty  forever  secured  to  the  new-born  nation. 
As  Garrison  remarked  at  the  tomb  of  Calhoun,  on 
the  morning  that  Lincoln  died,  "  Down  into  a  deeper 
grave  than  this, slavery  has  gone,  and  for  it  there  is 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE     LAST. 

"  GARRISON,"  said  George  Thompson  on  the  steamer 
which  was  conveying  the  Government  party  out  of 
Charleston  Harbor  on  their  return  trip;  "Garrison 
you  began  your  warfare  at  the  North  in  the  face  of 
rotten  eggs  and  brickbats.  Behold  you  end  it  at 
Charleston  on  a  bed  of  roses  !  "  The  period  of  per 
secution  had  indeed  ended,  the  reign  of  missiles  had 
ceased,  but  with  the  roses  there  came  to  the  pioneer 
not  a  few  thorns.  Bitter  was  the  sorrow  which  vis 
ited  him  in  the  winter  of  1863.  Without  warning  his 
wife  was  on  the  night  of  December  29th,  stricken  with 
paralysis,  which  crippled  her  for  the  rest  of  her  life. 
No  words  can  adequately  express  all  that  she  had 
been  to  the  reformer  in  his  struggle  with  slavery. 
She  was  a  providential  woman  raised  up  to  be  the  wife 
and  helpmate  of  her  husband,  the  strenuous  man 
of  God.  "  As  a  wife  for  a  period  of  more 
than  twenty-six  years,"  he  wrote  her  on  the  comple 
tion  of  her  fiftieth  year,  "you  have  left  nothing 
undone  to  smooth  the  rugged  pathway  of  my  public 
career — to  render  home  the  all-powerful  magnet  of 
attraction,  and  the  focal  point  of  domestic  enjoy 
ment — to  make  my  welfare  and  happiness  at  all  times 
a  matter  of  tender  solicitude — and  to  demonstrate  the 
depth  and  fixedness  of  that  love  which  you  so  long 

(385) 


386  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

ago  plighted  to  me.  .  .  .  Whatever  of  human 
infirmity  we  may  have  seen  in  each  other,  I  believe 
few  have  enjoyed  more  unalloyed  bliss  in  wedded 
life  than  ourselves."  For  twelve  years  after  that  sad 
December  night  the  lovely  invalid  was  the  object  of 
her  husband's  most  tender  and  assiduous  care.  And 
when  at  last  she  left  him  in  January,  1876,  the  lone 
liness  which  fell  upon  his  heart  seemed  more  than  he 
could  bear. 

Differences  with  old  associates  was  a  grievous  thorn 
which  came  to  the  pioneer  during  the  progress  of  the 
war.  The  first  marked  disagreement  between  him 
and  them  occurred  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society  not  a  month  after 
his  wife's  prostration.  The  clash  came  between  the 
leader  and  his  great  coadjutor  Wendell  Phillips  over 
a  resolution  introduced  by  the  latter,  condemning  the 
Government  and  declaring  its  readiness  "  to  sacrifice 
the  interest  and  honor  of  the  North  to  secure  a  sham 
peace."  Garrison  objected  to  the  severity  of  this 
charge.  He  believed  that  there  was  but  one  party  at 
the  North  of  which  it  was  true,  and  that  was  the 
party  of  Copperheads.  He  endeavored,  therefore,  to 
modify  the  harshness  of  the  resolution  by  giving  it 
a  more  moderate  tone.  But  the  anti-Lincoln  feeling 
of  the  Convention  proved  too  strong  for  his  resist 
ance,  and  Mr.  Phillips's  resolution  was  finally  adopted 
as  the  sentiment  of  the  society. 

The  discordant  note  thus  struck  grew  sharper  and 
louder  during  the  year.  The  divergence  of  views  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Abolitionists  touching  the  Southern 
policy  of  the  Administration  grew  wider,  until  the 
subject  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  renomination  sundered  the 


THE    LAST.  387 

little  band  into  two  wings — one  for  renomination, 
headed  by  Garrison,  the  other  against  renomination, 
and  led  by  Phillips.  These  differences  presently 
developed  into,  if  not  positive  antagonism,  then  some 
thing  closely  akin  to  it  between  the  two  wings  and 
the  two  leaders.  No  little  heat  was  generated  from 
the  strong,  sharp  things  said  on  both  sides.  Garrison 
was  wiser  than  Phillips  in  his  unwillingness  to  have 
the  country,  in  the  homely  speech  of  the  President, 
"  swap  horses  while  crossing  a  stream." 

Serious  differences  of  opinion  sprang  up  also  be 
tween  the  two  leaders  and  the  two  wings  in  relation 
to  the  proper  time  for  dissolving  the  anti-slavery 
organizations.  Garrison  held  on  one  side  that  this 
time  had  come  with  the  adoption  of  the  thirteenth 
amendment  abolishing  slavery,  while  Phillips  held  on 
the  other  that  the  societies  should  continue  their 
operations  until  the  negro  was  invested  with  the  right 
to  vote.  And  here  it  seems  that  Phillips  was  wiser 
than  Garrison  in  his  purpose  not  to  abandon  in  1865 
the  old  machinery  for  influencing  public  sentiment 
in  the  negro's  interest. 

At  the  anniversary  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery 
Society,  in  May,  1865,  Garrison  contended  for  its  dis 
solution,  declaring  that  "  Nothing  is  more  clear  in 
my  own  mind,  nothing  has  ever  been  more  clear,  than 
that  this  is  the  fitting  time  to  dissolve  our  organi 
zation,  and  to  mingle  with  the  millions  of  our  fellow- 
countrymen  in*  one  common  effort  to  establish  justice 
and  liberty  throughout  the  land."  For  two  days  the 
debate  upon  this  question  raged  in  the  convention, 
but  when  the  vote  was  taken  it  was  found  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  delegates  agreed  with  Mr.  Phillips. 


388  "WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Mr.  Garrison  was,  nevertheless,  reelected  President, 
but  declined  and  withdrew  from  the  society.  The 
controversy  was  renewed  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  January,  1866. 
But  here  again  a  large  majority  voted  against  disso 
lution.  Warm  words  fell  from  both  Garrison  and 
Phillips  and  their  respective  supporters,  which  tried 
sorely  the  friendship  of  the  two  leaders. 

In  accordance  with  his  views  touching  the  discon 
tinuance  of  the  anti-slavery  societies,  Garrison  dis 
continued  the  publication  of  the  Liberator  after  the 
completion  of  its  thirty-fifth  volume  in  December, 
1865.  He  did  not  mean  by  this  act  to  cease  his 
labors  for  the  negro.  Far  from  it.  For  he,  like 
Phillips,  stood  for  his  absolute  equality  before  the 
law.  But  he  perceived  that  old  things  had  passed 
away,  and  with  them  the  need  of  the  old  instruments, 
and  that  what  remained  to  be  done  for  the  black  man 
required  to  be  done  with  new  means.  "  The  object," 
said  he  in  his  valedictory,  "  for  which  the  Liberator 
was  commenced,  the  extermination  of  chattel  slavery, 
having  been  gloriously  consummated,  it  seems  to  me 
specially  appropriate  to  let  its  existence  cover  the 
historic  period  of  the  great  struggle  ;  leaving  what 
remains  to  be  done  to  complete  the  work  of  emanci 
pation  to  other  instrumentalites  (of  which  I  hope  to 
avail  myself),  under  new  auspices,  with  more  abun 
dant  means,  and  with  millions  instead  of  hundreds 
for  allies." 

With  the  discontinuance  of  the  Liberator  Garrison's 
occupation,  from  which  he  had  derived  a  regular 
though  somewhat  uncertain  income  for  the  support 
of  his  family,  was  gone.  He  was  not  in  destitute  cir- 


THE    LAST.  389 

cumstances,  however,  thanks  to  the  generosity  of 
friends,  who  had  already  secured  him  the  home  in 
Roxbury,  where  he  spent  the  remaining  years  of  his 
life.  He  had  also  been  one  of  the  legatees  under  the 
will  of  Charles  F.  Hovey,  who  left  about  forty  thous 
and  dollars  to  the  anti-slavery  cause.  But  the  age 
of  the  reformer,  he  was  then  sixty,  and  the  state  of 
his  health,  which  was  much  impaired,  together  with 
the  helplessness  of  his  wife,  made  some  provision  for 
his  and  her  support,  other  than  the  little  which  he 
possessed,  a  matter  of  anxious  thought  on  the  part 
of  himself  and  his  friends.  He  had  given  thirty-five 
years  of  his  life  to  the  public  good.  His  services  to 
his  country  and  to  the  world  were  above  all  price,  all 
money  considerations.  It  was  felt  that  to  him  who 
had  given  so  much  to  the  world,  the  world  should  in 
his  need  make  some  substantial  acknowledgement  in 
return. 

Some  of  his  countrymen,  accordingly,  conceived 
the  plan  of  a  national  testimonial  to  the  philanthro 
pist,  which  should  ensure  to  him  during  the  rest  of 
his  life  a  competence. 

A  committee  having  this  end  in  view  was  organ 
ized  March  28,  1866,  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Henry  I.  Bow- 
ditch.  John  A.  Andrew,  who  was  its  chairman,  wrote 
the  address  to  the  public,  to  which  were  appended 
the  chief  names  in  the  politics  and  literature  of  the 
land.  Nearly  two  years  afterward,  on  March  10,  1868, 
the  committee  were  able  to  place  in  Mr.  Garrison's 
hands  the  handsome  sum  of  thirty-one  thousand  dol 
lars  with  a  promise  of  possibly  one  or  two  thousand 
more  a  little  later.  To  the  energy  and  devotedness  of 
one  man,  the  Rev.  Samuel  May,  Jr.,  more  than  to  any 


390  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

other,  and  perhaps  than  all  others  put  together,  this 
noble  achievement  was  due.  The  pioneer  was 
deeply  moved  at  the  high  and  generous  character  of 
the  recognition  accorded  his  labors.  -  "  Little,  indeed, 
did  I  know  or  anticipate  how  prolonged  or  how  viru 
lent  would  be  the  struggle,"  said  he  in  his  reply  to 
the  committee,  "  when  I  lifted  up  the  standard  of 
immediate  emancipation,  and  essayed  to  rouse  the 
nation  to  a  sense  of  its  guilt  and  danger.  But  hav 
ing  put  my  hands  to  the  plow,  how  could  I  look 
back?  For,  in  a  cause  so  righteous,  I  could  not 
doubt  that,  having  turned  the  furrows,  if  I  sowed  in 
tears  I  should  one  day  reap  in  joy.  But,  whether 
permitted  to  live  to  witness  the  abolition  of  slavery 
or  not,  I  felt  assured  that,  as  I  demanded  nothing 
that  was  not  clearly  in  accordance  with  justice  and 
humanity,  sometime  or  other,  if  remembered  at  all, 
I  should  stand  vindicated  in  the  eyes  of  my  country 
men."  The  names  of  John  Bright,  John  Stuart  Mill, 
William  E.  Foster,  and  Samuel  Morley,  among  the 
contributors  to  the  fund,  lent  to  the  testimonial  an 
international  character. 

In  May,  1867,  Garrison  went  abroad  the  fourth 
time,  and  traveled  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Con 
tinent.  Everywhere  that  he  went  he  was  received  as 
an  illustrious  visitor  and  as  a  benefactor  of  mankind. 
At  abreakfast  in  London  which  "was  intended  to  com 
memorate  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  great  triumphs 
of  freedom,  and  to  do  honor  to  a  most  eminent  instru 
ment  in  the  achievement  of  that  freedom,"  and  at 
which  were  gathered  the  genius,  the  wealth,  and 
aristocracy  of  England  and  Scotland,  John  Bright, 
who  presided,  welcomed  the  illustrious  guest  "  with 


THE    LAST.  391 

a  cordiality  which  knows  no  stint  and  no  limit  for 
him  and  for  his  noble  associates,  both  men  and 
women,"  and  ventured  to  speak  a  verdict  which  he 
believed  would  be  sanctioned  by  all  mankind,  viz., 
that  "William  Lloyd  Garrison  and  his  fellow-labor 
ers  in  that  world's  work — are  they  not 

"  On  Fame's  eternal  bead-roll  worthy  to  be  filed  ?  " 

With  the  discontinuance  of  the  Liberator  Garrison's 
active  career  came  to  a  close.  But  his  sympathetic 
interest  in  the  freedmen,  temperance,  the  cause  of 
women,  and  in  other  reformatory  enterprises  con 
tinued  unabated.  He  watched  with  stern  and  vigi 
lant  eye,  and  bleeding  heart  the  new  rebellion  at  the 
South  whose  purpose  was  the  nullification  of  the  civil 
and  political  rights  of  the  blacks,  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  military  rule  of  the  National  Government  in 
the  Southern  States.  He  did  not  see  what  time  has 
since  made  clear  that  a  genuine  reconstruc 
tion  of  the  Sonith,  and  the  ultimate  solution  of 
the  Southern  problem  had,  in  accordance  with 
social  laws,  to  proceed  from  within,  from  the  South 
itself,  not  from  without  and  from  Washington.  The 
old  fire  again  burned  in  his  speech  as  tidings  of  the 
violence  of  • -he  whites  and  the  Bufferings  of  the  blacks 
reached  him  from  the  former  slave  section.  Indeed, 
the  last  written  word::  of  rns,  addressed  to  the  public, 
were  words  in  defence  of  ;he  race  to  whose  freedom 
he  had  devoted  his  life — words  which,  trumpet- 
tongued  raised  anew  the  rallying-cry  of  "  Liberty  and 
equal  rights  for  each,  for  all,  and  for  ever,  wherever 
the  lot  of  man  is  cast  within  our  broad  domains  !  " 

True  to  his  grand  motto  "  My  country  is  the  world  ! 
my  countrymen  are  all  mankind,"  he  espoused  the 


392  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

cause  of  the  Chinese,  and  denounced  the  National  pol 
icy  of  excluding  them  on  the  ground  of  race  from  the 
republic  but  a  few  months  before  his  death.  The  anti- 
Chinese  movement  appeared  to  him  "  narrow,  con 
ceited,  selfish,  anti-human,  anti-Christian."  "  Against 
this  hateful  spirit  of  caste,"  wrote  the  dying  philan 
thropist,  "  I  have  earnestly  protested  for  the  last  fifty 
years,  wherever  it  has  developed  itself,  especially  in 
the  case  of  another  class,  for  many  generations  still 
more  contemned,  degraded,  and  oppressed  ;  and  the 
time  has  fully  come  to  deal  with  it  as  an  offence  to 
God,  and  a  curse  to  the  world  wherever  it  seeks  to 
bear  sway." 

On  the  same  grand  principle  of  human  fraternity 
Mr.  Garrison  dealt  with  the  questions  of  trade  and 
tariffs  also.  He  believed  in  liberty,  civil,  religious, 
and  commercial.  He  was  in  fact  a  radical  free  trader 
on  moral  and  humanitary  grounds.  "  He  is  the  most 
sagacious  political  economist,"  was  a  remark  of  his, 
"  who  contends  for  the  highest  justice,  the  most  far- 
reaching  equality,  a  close  adherence  to  natural  laws, 
and  the  removal  of  all  those  restrictions  which  foster 
national  pride  and  selfishness."  And  here  is  another 
like  unto  it  :  "  Believing  that  the  interests  of  the 
American  people  in  no  wise  materially  differ  from 
those  of  the  people  of  any  other  country,  and  denying 
the  rectitude  or  feasibility  of  building  ourselves  up 
at  their  expense  by  an  exclusive  policy,  obstructing 
the  natural  flow  of  material  exchanges,  I  avow  my 
self  to  be  a  radical  free  trader,  even  to  the  extent  of 
desiring  the  abolition  of  all  custom-houses,  as  now 
constituted,  throughout  the  world.  That  event  is  far 
distant,  undoubtedly,  but  I  believe  it  will  come  with 


THE    LAST.  393 

the  freedom  and  enlightenment  of  mankind.  My 
faith  is  absolute  that  it  will  prove  advantageous  to 
every  branch  of  industry,  whether  at  home  or  abroad." 
The  closing  years  of  the  reformer's  life  were  years 
of  great  bodily  suffering.  A  disease  of  the  kidneys 
and  a  chronic  catarrh  of  the  head  made  steady 
inroads  upon  the  resources  of  his  constitution,  made 
life  at  times  a  wheel  ^.i  which  he  was  racked  with 
physical  tortures,  ah  of  which  he  bore  with  the  ut 
most  fortitude  and  serenity  of  spirit.  "The  longer  I 
live,  the  longer  I  desire  to  live,"  he  wrote  Samuel  J. 
May,  "  and  the  more  I  see  the  desirableness  of  living; 
yet  certainly  not  in  this  frail  body,  but  just  as  it  shall 
please  the  dear  Father  of  us  all."  One  by  one  he 
saw  the  little  band  of  which  he  was  leader  dwindle 
as  now  one  and  now  another  dropped  by  the  way. 
And  it  was  he  or  Mr.  Phillips,  or  both,  who  spoke  the 
last  loving  words  over  their  coffins.  As  the  little 
band  passed  on  to  the  unseen  country,  a  new  joy 
awoke  in  the  soul  of  the  leader  left  behind,  the  joy  of 
anticipation,  of  glad  reunion  beyond  the  grave.  "  How 
unspeakably  pleasant  it  will  be  to  greet  them,  and  to 
be  greeted  by  them  on  the  other  side  of  the  line,"  it 
seemed  to  him  as  he,  too,  began  to  descend  toward 
the  shore  of  the  swift,  silent  river.  The  deep,  sweet 
love  for  his  mother  returned  with  youthful  freshness 
and  force  to  him,  the  man  of  seventy-three  years,  at 
the  thought  of  coming  again  into  her  presence.  A 
strange  yearning  was  tugging  at  his  heart  for  all  the 
dear  ones  gone  before.  The  fond  mother,  who  had 
watched  over  his  childhood,  and  the  fond  wife,  who 
had  been  the  stay  of  his  manhood,  were  the  first  two 
whom  he  yearned  to  meet  aft.r  crossing  the  river 


394  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

The  joyous  thought  of  his  approaching  meeting 
with  those  white-souled  women  cheered  and  com 
forted  the  reformer  amid  excruciating  physical  suffer 
ings.  Worn  out  by  heroic  and  Herculean  labors  for 
mankind  and  by  a  complication  of  diseases,  he  more 
and  more  longed  for  rest,  to  go  home  to  beloved 
ones  as  he  expressed  it.  To  the  question,  "  What  do 
you  want,  Mr.  Garrison  ?"  asked  by  the  attending 
physician  on  the  day  before  his  death,  he  replied, 
weariedly,  "  To  finish  it  up  !"  And  this  he  did  at  the 
home  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Henry  Villard,  in  New 
York,  in  the  midst  of  children  and  grandchildren, 
near  midnight,  on  May  24,  1879. 

"  While  that  ear  could  listen,"  said  Wendell 
Phillips  over  the  illustrious  champion  of  liberty  as 
he  lay  dead  in  the  old  church  in  Roxbury;  "  While 
that  ear  could  listen,  God  gave  what  he  has  rarely 
given  to  man,  the  plaudits  and  prayers  of  four  mil 
lions  of  victims."  But  as  he  lay  there  he  had,  besides, 
the  plaudits  and  praise  of  an  emancipated  nation. 
The  plaudits  and  praise  of  an  emancipated  race,  min 
gling  melodiously  with  those  of  an  emancipated  nation 
made  noble  music  about  his  bier.  In  the  city,  where 
forty-three  years  before  he  was  mobbed,  the  flags 
floated  at  half-mast  in  his  honor  ;  and  on  Beacon 
Hill,  where  the  Government  once  desired  his  destruc 
tion,  the  voice  of  appreciation  was  heard  and  tokens 
of  the  State's  sorrow  met  the  eye.  Great  in  life 
great  also  in  death  was  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 
"  Men  of  a  thousand  shifts  and  wiles,  look  here  ! 

See  one  straightforward  conscience  put  in  pawn 

To  win  a  world  ;  see  the  obedient  sphere 

By  bravery's  simple  gravitation  drawn ! 


THE    LAST.  395 

Shall  we  not  heed  the  lesson  taught  of  old, 
And  by  the  present's  lips  repeated  still, 
In  our  own  single  manhood  to  be  bold, 
Fortressed  in  conscience  and  impregnable  will  ?  " 


INDEX. 


Adams,  Charles  Francis,  372. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  54,  250-251. 

Adams,  Nehemiah,  278 

Adams,  William,  292. 

Alcott,  A.  Bronson,  90,  91,  134. 

American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  174,  311,  340,  373,  387. 

Andover  Seminary,  190. 

Andrew,  John  A.,  381,  389. 

Annexation  of  Texas,  335. 

Anti-Slavery  Standard,  299. 

Atchison,  David,  338,  374. 

Attucks,  Crispus,  227. 

Bacon,  Leonard  W.,  162. 

Bartlett,  Ezekiel,  18,  20. 

Beecher,  Lyman,  no,  in,  161,  189,  190,  269. 

Benson,  George,  194,  263. 

Benson,  George  W.,  168,  178,  234,  260,  281. 

Benson,  Henry  E.,  212,  263. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  105-106,  252,  253, 

Bird,  Frank  W.,  361. 

Birney,  James  G.,  203,  298,  320. 

Bond,  Judge,  382. 

Boston  Female  Anti-Slavery  Society,  217,  233,  240. 

Bourne,  Rev.  George,  108,  203. 

(397) 


INDEX. 

Bowclitch,  Henry  I.,  233,  349,  389. 
Bright,  John,  390,  391. 
Brooks,  Preston  S.,  359. 
Brown,  John,  365-368. 
Buffum,  Arnold,  139,  177. 
Burleigh,  Charles  C.,  221,  223,  235. 
Buxton,  Thomas  Fowell,  152,  154,  204. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  246,  252,  315,  335,  336,  337,  352,  353,  384. 

Campbell,  John  Reid,  225. 

Channing,  Dr.  W.  E.,  no,  in,  256,  316. 

Chapman,  Maria  Weston,  223,  258,  259,  277,  292. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  338. 

Child,  David  Lee,  134,  136,  138,  203. 

Child,  Lydia  Maria,  186,  203,  210,  277,  292,  309. 

Clay,  Henry,  339,  348. 

Clerical  Appeal,  282. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  155,  303. 

Coffin,  Joshua,  139,  198. 

Cobb,  Howell,  338. 

Collier,  Rev.  William,  40. 

Collins,  John  A.,  298,  299,  300,  303. 

Colonization  Society,  60,  72,  144-156,  162. 

Colored  Seaman,  313-314. 

Colorphobia,  157-169. 

Colver,  Nathaniel,  303. 

Commercial  Advertiser,  New  York,  170. 

Courier,  Boston,  128,  129,  217. 

Courier  and  Enquirer ',  New  York,  171. 

Corwin,  Thomas,  372. 

Cox,  Abraham  L.,  185,  203,  209. 

Crandall,  Prudence,  165-168,  199. 

Cresson,  Elliott,  150,  151,  153. 

Cropper,  James,  154,  205. 

Curtin,  Andrew  G.,  372. 

Curtis,  Benjamin  R.,  354. 

Cuyler,  Rev.  Theodore  L.,  384. 


INDEX.  399 

Davis,  Jefferson,  338,  376. 

Disunion  Convention  at  Worcester,  361-363. 

Dole,  Ebenezer,  86. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  353,  365. 

Douglass,  Frederick,  300,  344. 

Dred  Scott  Case,  364. 

Duncan,  Rev.  James,  108-109. 

Emancipator,  The,  283,  285,  286,  328. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  281. 
Evening  Post,  New  York,  208. 
Everett,  Edward,  30,  31,  243,  244. 

Farnham,  Martha,  16. 

Fessenden,  Samuel,  141,  148. 

Follen,  Prof.  Charles,  201,  203,  247. 

Forten,  James,  144. 

Foster,  Stephen  S.,  310,  375. 

Foster,  William  E.,  390. 

Fremont,  John  C,  361. 

Free  Press,  27,  34. 

Fugitive  Slave  Law,  effect  of,  345-347. 

Fugitive  Slaves,  The  Crafts,  Shadrach,  Sims,  Burns,  349. 

Fuller,  John  E.,  219. 

Furness,  Rev.  W.  H.,  344. 

Garrison,  Abijah,  12-15,  18. 

Garrison,  Charles  Follen,  331-332. 

Garrison,  Francis  Jackson,  330. 

Garrison,  George  Thompson,  381. 

Garrison,  Helen  Eliza,  194-196,  219,  297,  331,  385-386. 

Garrison,  James,  19,  20,  302-303. 

Garrison,  Joseph,  11,  12. 

Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips,  297. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  Early  years,  1 1-26 ;  Publishes  Free 
Press,  27-34;  seeks  work  in  Boston,  35;  nominates  Harri 
son  Gray  Otis  for  Congress,  35-36;  temperance  and  the 


400  INDEX. 

Philanthropist,  39-44 ;  meets  Lundy,  44;  early  attitude  or 
the  slavery  question,  46-50 ;  on  war,  51;  first  experience  with 
ministers  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  52 ;  Anti-slavery  Com 
mittee  of  twenty,  53  ;  goes  to  Bennington,  Vt.,  to  edit  the 
Journal  of  the  Times,  54-55  ;  monster  anti-slavery  petitior 
to  Congress,  55  ;  anticipates  trouble  with  the  South,  56 
begins  to  preach  freedom,  56-57  ;  agrees  to  help  Lund} 
edit  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,  58 ;  Congre 
gational  Societies  of  Boston  invite  him  to  deliver  Fourth- 
of- July  oration,  60;  the  address,  61-67;  goes  to  Baltimore 
69;  raises  the  standard  of  immediate  emancipation,  70; 
Lundy  and  he  agree  to  differ,  71 ;  defends  Free  People  oi 
Color,  73-74 ;  makes  acquaintance  with  barbarism  of  slavery, 
74  ;  ship  Francis  and  Francis  Todd,  75-77  ;  prosecuted  and 
imprisoned,  77-83 ;  released,  83 ;  visits  the  North,  84 ; 
returns  to  Baltimore  but  leaves  it  again  for  good,  87 ;  lec 
tures  on  slavery,  88-91;  character,  92-94;  incarnation  of 
immediate  emancipation,  109;  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  no-iii  ; 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  publishing  the  Liberator,  112-115  I 
his  method  of  attacking  slavery,  1 18  ;  he  is  heard,  120  ;  Wal 
ker's  appeal,  121-122;  Nat  Turner,  125-126;  southern  ex 
citement,  127-128;  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society, 
137-138;  appointed  agent,  141  ;  thoughts  on  African  coloni 
zation,  143-150;  first  visit  to  England,  152-156;  Mr.  Bux- 
ton's  mistake,  152;  prejudice  against  color,  157;  Prudence 
Crandall,  166,  168  ;  organization  of  New  York  City  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  and  beginning  of  the  mob  period,  170-172  ; 
formation  of  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  174-185*;  dec 
laration  of  sentiments,  182-184;  increased  agitation,  185-186; 
marriage,  193;  the  wife,  194-196;  poverty  of  the  Liberator, 
197-200;  the  paper  displeases  friends,  201-204;  George 
Thompson,  204-206 ;  Faneuil  Hall  meeting  to  put  the  Abol 
itionists  down,  211-215;  gallows  for  two,  215-216;  the 
Broad-Cloth  Mob,  218-232 ;  Thompson  leaves  the  country, 
238 ;  appears  before  a  committee  of  Massachusetts  legis 
lature,  245-246;  Pennsylvania  Hall,  257-260;  Marlboro 
Chapel,  260-261  ;  ill  health,  263  ;  Educational  Convention  of 


INDEX.  401 

anti-slavery  agents,  264-265 ;  the  Sabbath  question,  265-272; 
The  woman's  question,  273-280;  clerical  appeal,  282-285; 
anti-slavery  political  action,  286-288 ;  conflict  between  the 
New  York  and  the  Boston  boards,  289-291  ;  the  World's  Con 
vention,  292-295 ;  visit  to  Scotland,  295-296 ;  in  the  lecture 
field,  300-301  ;  his  brother  James,  302-303 ;  meets  charges 
of  infidelity,  303-304 ;  Irish  Address,  304-305 ;  no  union  with 
slaveholders,  306-312;  Texas  agitation,  316-318;  dislikes 
Liberty  party,  319-323;  some  characteristics,  326-334;  the_ 
Rynders  Mob,  340-344 ;  publicly  burns  the  United  States 
Constitution,  354;  answers  objections  to  his  disunionism, 
362-363  ;  Harper's  Ferry,  365-367  ;  secession  :  first  attitude 
to  it,  370-373  ;  second  attitude,  373 ;  adapts  himself  to  cir 
cumstances,  373-381 ;  Lincoln  and  emancipation,  379  ;  visits 
Baltimore,  Washington,  Charleston,  381-384;  illness  and 
death  of  his  wife,  385-386 ;  differences  with  anti-slavery 
associates,  386-388 ;  discontinues  the  Liberator,  388 ; 
national  testimonial,  389-390;  fourth  visit  to  England,  390- 
391  ;  champions  cause  of  Southern  negroes,  391  ;  champions 
cause  of  Chinese,  392 ;  believes  in  Free  Trade,  392-393 ; 
illness  and  death,  393-395. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  Jr.,  297. 

Gazette,  Boston,  217. 

Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,  58,  69,  71-75. 

Gibbons,  James  S.,  309. 

Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  338. 

Goodell,  William,  149,  203,  247,  248. 

Green,  William,  Jr.,  184. 

Grimke,  Angelina  E.,  235,  258-259. 

Grimke,  Sisters,  275-280. 

Hale,  John  P.,  338,  350. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  104. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  338. 

Haydon,  Benjamin  Robert,  294,  295. 

Hayne,  Robert  Y.,  209. 

Herald,  Newburyport,  21,  26. 


402  INDEX. 

Herald,  New  York,  340,  341. 
Higginson,  T.  W.,  358-359,  361. 
Hoar,  Samuel,  314. 
Horton,  Jacob,  61. 
Hovey,  Charles  F.,  389. 

Jackson,  Francis,  233,  240-241,  311-312,  317,  341,  344. 

Jewett,  Daniel  E.,  175. 

Jocelyn,  Rev.  Simeon  Smith,  203. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  380. 

Johnson,  Oliver,  114,  134,  137,  139,  160-161,  374. 

Journal,  Camden  (S.  C),  128. 

Journal,  Louisville  (Ky.),  120. 

Kansas,  Struggle  over,  357-358. 

Kelley,  Abby,  259,  291,  310. 

Kimball,  David  T.,  175. 

Knapp,  Isaac,  113,  127,  139,  197,  200,  265,  301-302. 

Kneeland,  Abner,  90,  268. 

Lane  Seminary,  189. 

Latimer,  George,  312. 

Leavitt,  Joshua,  149,320.  329. 

Leggett,  Samuel.  86. 

Liberator,  The,   111-20,    126-29,  I3I»  I4I»  J63,  165,   169,   176, 

197-204,  236,  237,  265,  284,  297,  327-329,  388. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  365,  370, 375,  376, 377,  378,  379,  380,  382,  384. 
Lloyd,  Fanny,  13-20,  24-26,  44-45. 
Longfellow,  Stephen,  148. 
Loring,  Edward  Greeley.  354. 
Loring,  Ellis  Grey,  134,  135   136,  138,  245,  264. 
Lovejoy,  Elijah  P.,  254-257. 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  136,  329. 
Lumpkin,  Wilson,  128. 
Lundy,  Benjamin,44,  45,  46,48-54,  57,  58,  69,  71,  72,  75,  108, 

133. 

Lunt,  George,  244  247,  248. 
Lyman,  Theodore,  223,  224.  227,  228, 


INDEX.  403 

Macaulay,  Zachary,  154. 

Malcolm,  Rev.  Howard,  52. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  94,  240. 

Mason,  James  M.,  338. 

Mason,  Jeremiah,  in. 

Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society,  265,  280,  297,  310. 

Mathew,  Father,  304,  305. 

May,  Samuel,  Jr.,  325,  389. 

May,  Samuel   J.,  90,  93,  94,  134,  166,  167,  179,  180,  186, 199, 

245,  272,  289,  393. 
McDowell,  James,  124,  125. 
McKim,  James  Miller,  149. 
McDuffie,  Governor,  243,  246. 
Mercury,  Charleston,  126, 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  390. 
Missouri  Compromise,  Repeal  of,  352-354. 
Moore,  Esther,  259. 
Morley,  Samuel,  390, 
Mott,  Lucretia,  178,259,  292,  293. 

National  Intelligencer,  128. 

New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  137-141,  200,  280,  311. 

New  England  Spectator,  282. 

Newman,  Prof.  Francis  W.,  378. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  154,  170,  171,  304. 

Otis,  Harrison  Gray,  35, 129,  130,  131,  213,  214,  215. 

Palmer,  Daniel,  n. 

Palmer,  Mary,  n,  12. 

Parker,  Mary  S.,  222,  234, 

Parker,  Theodore,  121,349,350,  362. 

Pastoral  Letter,  277. 

Paxton,  Rev.  J.  D.,  186. 

Pease,  Elizabeth,  303,  331,  346. 

Pennsylvania  Hall,  257-260. 

Phelps,  Amos  A.,  149, 186,  203, 278, 280,  288. 


404  INDEX. 

Phillips  Academy  (Andover),  190. 

Phillips,  Ann  Green,  292,  293. 

Phillips,  Wendell,    190,   257,  310,  317,  323,  3*6  344.  346-347. 

349.  35L  386, 387,  388,  393.394- 
Pillsbury,  Parker,  310, 
Prentice,  George  D.,  120. 
Purvis,  Robert,  144, 162,  178. 

Quincy,  Edmund,  299,  310,  316,  323,  324,  325,  326,  327-329. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  347. 

Rankin,  John,  177. 

Remond,  Charles  Lenox,  293,  295,  304. 

Rhett,  Barnwell,  338. 

Rogers,  Nathaniel  P.,  149.  293,  295,  301. 

Rynders,  Isaiah,  341-344. 

Scoble,  Rev.  John,  294. 

Sewall,  Samuel  E.,  90,  91,  134.  135. 136,  !37.  138,  175.  236,  3^7. 

Seward,  William  H.,  338,  372. 

Shaw,  Chief-Justice,  312. 

Slavery,  Rise  and  Progress  of,  95-107. 

Smith,  Gerritt,  147,  236,  297,  320. 

Sprague,  Peleg,  213,  214. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  382. 

Stanton,  Henry  B.,  253,  288. 

Stearns,  Charles,  359. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  338. 

Stuart,  Charles,  201,202,264. 

Sumner,  Charles,  234,  317,  339.  346",  359, 

Tappan,  Arthur,  83,  84,  164,  171,  184,  209,  210. 

Tappan,  Lewis,  149:  177,  201,  209,  283,  285. 

Texas  Agitation,  3i4-3l8. 

Thompson,  George,  204-206,  210,  212,  213,  216,  217,  218,238, 

294.295.35i.383.  385- 
Thurston,  David,  180. 


INDEX.  405 

Tilton,  Theodore,  382. 

Todd,  Francis,  75,  76,  77,  81,  82,  87. 

Toombs,  Robert,  338. 

Travis,  Joseph,  124. 

Turner,  Nat.,  124-125. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  351-352. 
Villard,  Mrs.  Henry,  394. 

Walker,  David,  121, 122,  123,  126. 

Ward,  Rev.  Samuel  R.,  344. 

Ware,  Rev.  Henry,  Jr.,  203. 

Weob,  Richard  D.,  310,  316,  318,  326. 

Webster,  Daniel,  35,  101,  no,  in,  117,  249,  338,  339,  347,  348, 

370. 

Weld,  Theodore  D.,  149,  190,  264,  279. 
Wesley,  John,  70,  107. 
White,  Nathaniel  H.,  41. 
Whitney,  Eli,  98. 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf,  34,  175,  179,  186,  202,  234,  279,  320. 
Wilberforce,  William,  152,  154. 
Winslow,  Isaac,  177. 
Winslow,  Nathan,  177. 
Wright,  Elizur,  147,  149,  185,  186,  202,  210,  283-285,  287,  320. 

Yerrington,  James  B.,  113, 


The  Public  Ledger,  Philadelphia,  sayt :  u  Ro 
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plain  facts  in  Howe's  adventurous  career.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Sanborn's  friendship  with  Dr.  Howe  for  over  20  years 
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THE  CHRISTIAN  HERCHANT 
By  CARLOS  MARTYN 


Cloth;  349pp.;  With  Portrait.     Price, 
$1.50.    Post-free. 


This  biography  of  one  of  New  York's  most  success 
ful  merchants,  whose  public  acts  gave  him  a  national 
reputation,  Is  largely  interspersed  with  the  history  of 
events  happening  in  the  stirring  times  of  his  greatest 
activity. 

"Such  books  85  these  are  of  incalculable  value 
to  the  young,  and  an  inspiration  to  all  who  are  seeking 
to  do  good  as  well  as  get  gain  in  this  world."— The  \ 
Gospel  Banner t  Augusta,  Me. 

"  The  Editor  has  handled  his  subject  In  so  able  a 
manner  that  the  reader  is  entranced,  and  is  carried  on 
and  on  until  with  a  sigh  of  regret  the  book  is  laid 
down."— The  Chicago  Herald. 

"  flany  of  the  passages  are  taken  from  the  lec 
tures  and  speeches  delivered  by  him  in  his  lifetime 
which  give  a  vivid  impression  of  the  home,  business, 
and  public  life  of  the  great  merchant  and  philanthro 
pist"—  The  Plaindealer,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


FUNK  &  WAGN ALLS  COMPANY,  Publishers, 
44-60  East  23d  Street,  New  York. 


Tlie    Commercial    Gazette,  Cincinnati,    says  : 
:     "This  volume  contains   considerable  matter   never 
before  published,  is  full  of  fascinating  reading,  and  is 
of  inestimable  historic  value." 

John  Brown    • 
•   And  His  Men 

WITH  BOMB  ACCOUNT  OP  THE  ROADS  THEY  TRAVELED 
TO  REACH  HARPER'S  FERRY. 

By  COL.  RICHARD  J.  HINTON, 

A  Contemporary  of  John  Brown. 

tamo,  Cloth;  752   pp.;    aa   Portraits.      Price, 
$1.50.    Post-free. 

In  an  Appendix  are  given  the  principal  and  more 
important  documents  prepared  by  John  Brown,  or 
relating  directly  to  the  enterprises  against  American 
slavery  in  which  he  was  actively  engaged ;  also  a 
copious  Index  to  the  volume. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  A  COUPLE  OF  LETTERS. 

ANACOSTIA,  D.  C.,  CEDAR  HILL,  Feb.  11, 1895. 
MY  DEAR  COLONEL  HINTON: 

Your  History  of  the  raid  upon  Harper's  Ferry,  by 
John  Brown  and  his  men,  leaves  nothing  in  that  line 
to  be  desired.  .  .  .  You  were  in  the  center  of  the 
circle,  and  hence  have  had  an  inside  view  of  the  whole 
transaction.  You  have  done  for  John  Brown  and  his 
men.  and  for  the  truth  of  history,  a  magnificent 
service.  Frederick  Douglass. 


MY  DKAB  COLONEL  HINTON  :  FKB>  14' 1895' 

Your  work  on  '  John  Brown  and  His  Men '  is  most 
strongly  and  vividly  done.  In  fact,  wherever  I  open 
the  book,  I  find  it  alive  with  the  undying  interest  of 
the  greatest  hour  of  our  history.  Perhaps  mankind 
must  yet  make  another  struggle ;  but  so  far  Brown 
remains  the  hero  of  the  supreme  endeavor  for  freedom, 
and  this  is  what  you  make  your  readers  feel,  without 
weakening  any  fact  concerning  him. 

William  Dean  Uowells. 


FUNK  &  WA6NALLS  COMPANY,  Publishers, 

44-60  East  23d  Street,  New  York. 


i.  TlAY  ITSF 

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